CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The U.S. government is using a new tool to help fight climate change.
And instead of getting rid of harmful emissions altogether, companies are looking to capture them before they get out.
President Biden's infrastructure law takes aim at reducing carbon emissions, which is a primary cause of climate change. The U.S. Department of Energy has $2.3 billion to spend on carbon capture.
Carbon capture is when machines pull carbon dioxide emissions from industrial processes, transport them somewhere else, then store it deep underground. Although, they say is not a long term solution, but any effort to reduce carbon right now is worth the effort.
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Still, carbon capture technology is in its very early stages, and remains quite expensive. The closest the U.S. has to a financial incentive right now is a small tax credit.
Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, said the real driver of carbon capture technology will have to come from the private sector. She said the U.S. has a goal of being net-zero by 2050 but admits fossil fuels will be a major part of the economy for years to come.
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