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A congressionally mandated study led by Princeton's Emily Carter has released a comprehensive roadmap for research and policies to enable large-scale recycling of carbon pollution into high-demand, useful products like fuels and construction materials.

The release follows a 2023 report by the same committee that found that a significant fraction of carbon emissions could be recycled, but cautioned that accomplishing the task faced substantial challenges. The new report adds to the potential uses and details ways to approach those challenges through both research and policy.

Fossil fuel use and industrial processes emit carbon dioxide gas, which traps heat in the atmosphere, changing weather patterns and disrupting ecosystems.

The committee, established in 2021 and convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, identified potential uses for carbon that could re-use up to about 10% of carbon dioxide emissions. These uses include durable products such as concrete or carbon fiber, or short-lived products such as jet fuels or pharmaceuticals.

Reusing carbon dioxide or permanently storing it are key strategies for reaching net-zero emissions (when carbon dioxide no longer accumulates in the atmosphere), said Carter, Princeton's Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and senior strategic advisor and associate laboratory director at the Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

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