Alaska Aims to Raise Money by Storing Carbon

Alaska’s state government raises hundreds of millions of dollars each year through the sale of oil that when burned contributes to climate change. Now the state is looking to also make money by preventing some of these gasses from entering the atmosphere, reports Alaska Public Media.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy plans to introduce a bill this upcoming legislative session aimed at turning the state’s capacity to absorb and store carbon into a source of revenue. And he said it could  bring in several hundred million to a billion dollars in revenue a year. 

“Alaska has a real opportunity to sequester carbon in many different ways in the state – through our forests, through our depleted oil and gas basins, as well as the potential for seaweed sequestration off our coasts,” Dunleavy said during a press briefing Thursday where he and his cabinet released the proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts in July 2023.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is the most commonly produced greenhouse gas. Sequestration is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Dunleavy said Alaska’s depleted basins, like Cook Inlet, are perfect places to sequester carbon. He said Cook Inlet could store upwards of 50 gigatons of carbon.