When the U.S. Congress passed its omnibus spending and COVID relief bill last month, plenty of people noted that it had a surprising amount for environmentalists to celebrate. Among the topline climate provisions: significant limits on a potent greenhouse gas found in refrigerants, new funds for wind and solar development, and an extension of the 45Q tax credit, which gives companies a tax break for capturing carbon.
There’s no doubt carbon capture is an industry in need of a jump start. If the world is going to meet its goal to keep temperature rise under 2° Celsius compared to preindustrial levels, everyone from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to the International Energy Agency agrees the world must capture and store much more carbon than we currently do. According to the IEA, we probably need to capture between 10 percent and 20 percent of the roughly 35 billion metric tons of carbon we produce annually if we want to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
Brad Finkelstein is the originations editor of National Mortgage News. While he covers the entire process, Brad's specialty is loan production and its associated parts from lead development through secondary marketing.
Brad joined National Mortgage News in 1990 after working on the North Hempstead/Northeast Queens desk for This Week publications on Long Island and then as associate editor of the Airport Press, covering both passenger and cargo stations at the New York area airports. While part of the NMN family, Brad was the editor of its wholesale publications Broker Magazine and Origination News, and in those roles and now in his current role, coordinates the annual Top Producers survey. Brad is a past president of the New York Financial Writers Association.
- Awards — Among the awards he has won was as regional finalist for the Azbees in 2021 for Online - Online Breaking News Coverage for work in stories on the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the mortgage industry along with Paul Centopani and Bonnie Sinnock. The following year he was part of the regional finalist for Online - Online Single Topic Coverage by a Team for coverage of industry layoffs along with Bonnie Sinnock, Andrew Martinez and Maria Volkova.
- Education — He has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Urban Studies from Queens College. He also attended the graduate journalism program at New York University..
- Experience — In 1989, Brad was a reporter on the North Hempstead/Northeast Queens desk for This Week publications on Long Island, with primary coverage of the Great Neck and Little Neck areas. Between January and May 1990, he was associate editor of the Airport Press, covering both passenger and cargo stations at the New York area airports. Brad joined National Mortgage News in May 1990.
- Journalistic affiliations — Brad is a member of the New York Financial Writers Association, where he also served on the board of directors and as an officer of the organization for four years, culminating as president in 2004. Since then he has served on a number of NYFWA committees, including membership, Financial Follies and nominations.
Twitter: @NMNBrad
Most of the disclosures tracked since the beginning of the year were filed in March, the MSRB said.
Lenders can offer deferred payments and capitalize on digital banking to help small businesses and consumers get back on their feet.
Currently the world captures about 40 million tons a year — a mere tenth of 1 percent of our total annual emissions. The global carbon capture industry is so small, in fact, that the U.S., which has just a dozen commercial facilities working, is its undisputed leader.
There are many reasons why carbon capture hasn’t taken off, but the primary one is that it’s expensive, and for a long time there was no incentive for big emitters such as oil refineries or cement makers to invest in making the technology profitable. In theory, that changed in 2018, when Congress greatly expanded the 45Q tax credit to allow companies to deduct as much as $50 (up from $20) per metric ton of carbon captured and stored permanently underground.
But the expansion came with a catch: It applied only to projects that had begun construction by 2023.
Carbon capture projects are very complicated. According to the Carbon Capture Coalition (CCC), it takes about five years on average just to get permitting to begin construction.
You see the problem. In the two years since 45Q was expanded — with great expectations that it would inspire lots of new projects — none have launched. Brad Crabtree, director of CCC, said several dozen are in the development stage, but many of these are now at risk of being abandoned since COVID has depressed the oil and gas market.
So, Congress stepped in again. Not only did it extend the tax credit out to 2025, the funding bill also added about $2 billion to fund six projects to demonstrate real world operability of innovative new carbon capture technologies. Significantly, two of those are reserved for steel and cement plants, as opposed to utilities, where previous investments have led to big failures. Currently there’s only one steel plant in the world with carbon capture, in Abu Dhabi, and the first cement factory with carbon capture is set to be built in Norway.
What can taxpayers realistically hope to get from their investment? Crabtree said that it will be a good thing if roughly 30 new projects, nearly triple the country’s current capacity, become operational. While that won’t capture nearly enough carbon in the short run, it might be enough to nurture a struggling industry, much the way tax credits in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 helped accelerate wind and solar.
“The whole point of the credit is to prove the technology works and costs can be lowered so a virtuous circle of investing and building can begin,” Crabtree said. “We can then ramp up in 2035."