Direct air capture is “very expensive because the CO2 in the atmosphere is only . 04%,” Herzog tells CNBC, and the technical process of removing carbon dioxide from a gas gets more expensive the lower the concentration of the carbon dioxide gets.

Is CCS cost effective?

For IGCC plants (using pre-combustion capture), the CCS cost ranges from 0.01–0.03 US$/kWh relative to a similar plant without CCS. For all electricity systems, the cost of CCS can be reduced by about 0.01–0.02 US$/kWh when using EOR with CO2 storage because the EOR revenues partly compensate for the CCS costs.

How much does CCS technology cost?

6.23 The IEA and ABARE estimate that the cost for electricity produced by an IGCC plant with the full range of CCS technology will range between A$ 51- 107 per MWh in 2010, with costs decreasing over time.