Interest and investment in carbon capture technology have surged to record levels, with global spending jumping 15-fold in just five years, according to the authors of the newly released report. While the industry is seeing more projects across a wider range of countries and sectors than ever before, the technology still remains a niche solution that faces significant economic hurdles before it can be deployed on a massive scale.
“Interest in CCUS has surged in recent years, with a wave of projects announced and installed capacity expected to double in the years ahead,” the report states. It further notes that “global investment in CCUS has grown sharply, from around USD 0.3 billion in 2020 to over USD 5 billion in 2025, far exceeding that in the previous wave of the early 2010s.”
This means that more money is being poured into ways to trap greenhouse gases before they enter the air, but simply announcing a project does not guarantee it will actually be built. While the amount of money spent on this technology has skyrocketed, only about 25% of the planned capacity has actually secured the final financial commitment required to start construction. For the industry to truly move from a specialized tool to a worldwide standard, it needs to prove it can become a reliable business that manages the high costs of moving and burying the captured emissions.
The report “Energy Technology Perspectives 2026” was published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, France. It was prepared by the IEA’s Energy Technology Policy Division under the direction of Chief Energy Technology Officer Timur Gül.
