Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal and utilisation strategies: Comparative analysis across Europe

Anthropogenic climate change necessitates urgent implementation of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) removal and utilisation strategies. While the CO 2 removal efficiency of such strategies is commonly evaluated, their environmental impacts beyond CO 2 emissions needs consideration to avoid burden shifting. This study performs a life cycle assessment of CO 2 removal and utilisation strategies in ten specific European locations. The study considers strategies such as direct air carbon capture, permanent storage, the production of fuels and polymers. The energy source, CO 2 transport distances, transport mode (pipeline and ship) and the CO 2 storage medium vary between the locations. Results indicate that seven of the ten considered locations have a CO 2 removal efficiency greater than 95%. In addition, the hotspot analysis indicates CO 2 capture and its transport contribute to between 0.3% and 13.1% of global warming impacts of polymer production and between 0.4% and 16.5% for fuel production (varies based on the polymer and fuel type).