I know that there is ‘legacy carbon’ in the atmosphere that needs to get removed but why aren’t we leveraging carbon capture as part of industrial processes (e.g. at the factory’s smoke stack, for example). Or maybe we are already?
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It’s expensive (installation costs, operating costs, reduced energy efficiency), and carbon emitters don’t want to do it, as it’s private cost for public good.
Until there is public funding for carbon capture or a carbon tax for emissions we are unlikely to see significant carbon capture at point of emission.
(However, there is enough of it being done that the technology is advancing. Maybe it will be more cost effective in the future.)
(Adding from my own comment below:)
Pollution is private benefit from public cost. Tragedy of the commons writ large.
Remediating pollution, right now, is mostly private cost for public benefit.
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