Carbon capture and storage in developing countries: A comparison of Brazil, South Africa and India

The ambition to introduce carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in developing countries raises particular considerations and challenges, where, most fundamentally, pressing socio-economic needs imply that there are other political priorities than GHG mitigation. This suggests that the interest in, and viability of, large-scale deployment of CCS in developing countries has to be analyzed as a strategic issue in the overall context of national development. But what are then the strategic concerns that may influence developing countries’ decisions to pursue large-scale deployment of CCS technology? The present article takes a first step in answering this question by comparing CCS policies and ongoing activities in Brazil, India and South Africa.

Research highlights► The study discusses the conditions for large-scale applications of CCS technology in developing countries. ► It does so by comparing current activities and policies regarding CCS in Brazil, India, and South Africa. ► In doing so, it emphasizes the technology as a strategic issue in the overall context of national development. ► It concludes that there are many hitherto unknown incentives for applying CCS but in some cases also considerable structural and political obstacles.