(397e) A Simple Framework to Explore the Financial and Technical Challenges of Decarbonization & Sustainability

Decarbonization can be accomplished through the use of green energy, by sequestering CO₂, or by simply developing process technologies that avoid generating CO₂ in the first place. The conversion to alternate technologies requires capital to build the new plants and replace the existing asset base. Policy makers around the globe have proposed a tax on CO₂ as a means to fund the capital and accelerate decarbonization. In this presentation, we make use of several limiting cases to study the interplay between a CO₂ tax, the capital required to decarbonize, the return on capital, the operating expenses and an increased productivity based on operating an asset for many years. Sensitivities of various parameters for the limiting cases and the value chain implications are explored. The problem of decarbonization is complicated due to the complexity, the large capital required and the critical role policy plays in the decarbonization journey. These limiting cases provide a means to explore sensitivities and intuitively design approaches that can help us achieve success.