| Oil companies that made bank pumping carbon into the atmosphere are now interested in removing it — with taxpayers’ help. At least seven oil and gas producers (including several of the big kahunas) are financially supporting projects that would suck carbon directly from the air and store it back underground, writes Corbin Hiar. And at least four of the companies are seeking additional funding from a $3.5 billion Energy Department competition. The department declined to reveal the full list of applicants but plans to announce the first round of winners this summer. Equipping oil companies with extra capital to suck carbon from the air could turbocharge a burgeoning technology that scientists say is probably necessary to stave off the worst of climate change. “What we really need to happen is for capital and engineering to flow into the sector so it can scale,” Sasha Mackler at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which receives donations from major oil producers, told Corbin. “The best, most sophisticated, most committed companies out there that can do that should do that.” But oil companies’ participation in the sector — both speculative and serious — is raising concern among climate activists who worry oil and gas producers are more interested in justifying continued use of fossil fuels than in addressing global warming. That fear is not unfounded. The chief executive of Occidental Petroleum, one of the largest U.S. oil companies, recently described one form of carbon removal — direct air capture — as a way to preserve the oil industry by allowing it to claim its pollution is being counterbalanced. (Experts agree the world needs to remove carbon from the air in addition to steep cuts in fossil fuel production.) “This gives our industry a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years that I think it’s going to be very much needed,” Vicki Hollub said. Other top oil executives have made similar comments in recent months. Many are also backing off their past commitments to slash oil production. Earlier this year, BP lessened its 2030 emissions-reduction target and Shell pulled back on a promise to limit oil production. Still, some activists say oil companies' participation should not sour environmental advocates on a technology the planet may need. “It’s even more important that climate activists and environmentalists support carbon removal,” Erin Burns, the executive director of the carbon removal advocacy group Carbon180, told Corbin.
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