
This study evaluates the global-scale economic feasibility of CO2 capture and geological sequestration using a concentration-prioritized framework applied to 2024 emissions data. Major fossil fuel and industrial CO2 sources were ranked by concentration, and capture costs from the literature were combined with transportation, storage, and monitoring costs to construct cumulative sequestration cost curves for minimum, average, and maximum cases. The analysis quantifies the CO2 removable and the associated costs if concentrated streams are targeted first, before moving to dilute sources.High-purity streams from ethanol, ammonia, and ethylene oxide together account for about 0.8 GtCO2/yr and can be sequestered at roughly $60/tCO2, representing only 2.1% of the 37.5 GtCO2 emitted globally in 2024. Global energy-related CO2 emissions have increased steadily, from 34.8 Gt in 2020 to 37.5 Gt in 2024, averaging 0.7 GtCO2 growth per year. Current global capture is about 0.05 GtCO2/yr, meaning a 16-fold scale-up is required to reach 0.8 GtCO2. Including emissions from cement and steel plants raises annual sequestration costs to $262–518 billion, while coal-fired power plants increase costs to $2.0 trillion. Miscellaneous emissions represent diffuse residual emissions that require DAC-type removal at $500–1000/tCO2, pushing global sequestration costs above $10 trillion annually.Overall, capturing the most favorable CO2 streams can offset annual emission growth, but achieving this will require significant scaling of current technologies and it may take several years to reach that target. Removing CO2 emissions from other low concentration targets will require meaningful changes in the current technologies and government regulations.
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