President Joe Biden is due to unveil a new emissions reduction target for 2030 by April 22 and Alex Dewar, senior director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Center for Energy Impact, said he sees carbon capture playing a vital role in the new administration’s climate ambitions.

For example, Dewar cited additional tax credits like 45Q for carbon capture as well as the prospect of a hydrogen tax credit as sparking tremendous investment in decarbonization technologies, which he told Hart Energy’s Faiza Rizvi in a recent interview will be instrumental in getting the U.S. toward a pathway for net-zero.

“Companies who have already done the groundwork, built the portfolio of options and have the opportunity to finance projects will benefit most from tax credits,” he said using Occidental Petroleum Corp. as an example, which he noted has already carved a niche area in carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) with projects “ready to go.”

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BCG’s Center for Energy Impact is closely tracking and assessing the development of climate and energy policy in the Biden administration as the policy agenda of the new administration takes shape.

“As the Biden administration legislation develops and unfolds, it is critical for oil and gas companies to be looking at where the opportunities are,” Dewar said. “If they are in their portfolio already or where they can assess future opportunities to co-invest to seize the value from 45Q tax credits.”

Commenting on the Biden administration’s suspension of new leasing for fossil fuel production on federal lands, he noted that there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the decision. The only thing clear so far is that the “Biden administration will take it slowly and that they are not necessarily rushing to implement an outright long-term ban on new leasing,” he added.

He continued, “It’s not just about leasing availability…it’s really about considering how the federal government extracts the most value from those assets. So in parallel, they will be looking at royalty payment structures and a number of other issues that ultimately won’t just effect viability and availability of leases but impact their economic attractiveness as well.”

Even though nobody has a clear timeline on next steps, Dewar said it will be a “long and deeply considered process that has potential of profoundly different outcomes.”

Dewar also pointed out that there is no full clarity on Biden’s overarching strategy on climate and that his administration’s detailed climate policy will unfold over time as agencies staff up and ramp up policymaking.

“We know their aspirations—net-zero economy by 2050, decarbonizing the power sector by 2035 and aspirations around transport and building sectors as well,” he said. “We don’t know exactly all the tools and mechanisms that the administration will use.”

Dewar added, however, that as the infrastructure bill takes shape in Congress, it will provide a series of critical milestones for understanding the role of fiscal policy in attaining climate goals.

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Editor’s note: Image of Joe Biden by NumenaStudios / Shutterstock.com.

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