Smoke & Mirrors: The Carbon Capture Con
Publish Date: Last Updated: 13th November 2025
Author: nick smith - With the help of CHATGPT
Billions are being poured, quite literally, into the ground. Under the banner of “Carbon Capture and Storage” (CCS), governments are assuring us that progress is being made toward a cleaner future. Yet the numbers tell a different story. Despite vast public investment and glowing press releases, global CO₂ levels continue to rise.
The uncomfortable truth is that carbon capture, as currently implemented, is not a solution to climate change, it’s a distraction. A convenient illusion that allows politicians and corporations to appear proactive while avoiding the real, messy work of changing how we produce and consume energy.
The Science of Deception
The principle sounds noble enough: capture CO₂ from industrial processes and pump it deep underground where it can do no harm. But the reality is that the scale is laughably small. According to recent reports, current global CCS projects capture less than 0.1% of annual CO₂ emissions. The UK, despite spending billions in subsidies and pilot schemes, has made no measurable impact on atmospheric CO₂ levels.
The captured carbon is often used in enhanced oil recovery, injecting CO₂ into old wells to squeeze out more fossil fuel. In other words, we are using captured carbon to extract more carbon. You couldn’t script irony better than this.
The Illusion of Action
Carbon capture has become the environmental equivalent of “thoughts and prayers.” It gives politicians a soundbite and corporations a sustainability badge while the real problems, pollution, overconsumption, and systemic waste, remain untouched.
Meanwhile, the taxpaying public is sold the comforting idea that “something is being done.” It’s a green illusion, a performance designed to make inaction look like progress.
The Real Problems Ignored
If we genuinely cared about the environment, we’d be investing in the visible crises that actually affect our daily lives:
- Polluted rivers that kill wildlife and threaten public health.
- Plastic pollution that is choking our oceans and food chains.
- Flood defences that could protect thousands of homes as extreme weather becomes more frequent.
These are solvable, local, and immediate issues. They just don’t make for glamorous headlines at international conferences.
The Global Balancing Act
Even if Western nations were to achieve net-zero emissions tomorrow, the planet would still heat up unless developing nations curb their own industrial outputs. China is making genuine progress in renewable adoption, but as costs rise, manufacturing simply migrates to less regulated regions. It’s a global version of sweeping dust under the rug.
At COP Brazil, world leaders once again gathered to tell us how to “go green”, after flying in on private jets and cutting down rainforest to build a new motorway to the venue. The hypocrisy would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. The same delegates then jetted off to Spain for another round of self-congratulations and dire warnings about how the rest of us need to tighten our belts.
The Real Fraud
Carbon capture isn’t just a waste of money, it’s environmental theatre. It’s the illusion of moral virtue wrapped around an industry built on fear, profit, and denial. It tackles the appearance of a problem, not the root cause.
We’re not capturing carbon. We’re capturing complacency.
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