Texas carbon management Roadmap charts path to energy transformation

A new Roadmap from the Great Plains Institute with support from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation charts how the state that revolutionised U.S. energy can lead the next transformation.

The Roadmap serves as a reference for understanding Texas’s carbon management landscape and provides a clear and practical framework for how Texas can support the deployment of responsible carbon management in the near term. It outlines Texas’s opportunities and challenges and identifies the policy, regulatory, workforce, and infrastructure steps needed to scale projects safely and economically.

It includes a statewide assessment of CO2 sources and storage potential, modeling of near- and longer-term capture and storage scenarios, and analysis of workforce needs, permitting timelines, and investment barriers. It also recommends actions to strengthen regulatory clarity, enhance community engagement and transparency, and support emerging opportunities such as DAC, hydrogen with carbon capture and storage, and carbon utilisation. The Roadmap is designed to guide planning, investment, and coordinated action across Texas.

"Texas stands at an inflection point," says the report. "The same geology that made it the center of American oil and gas—vast underground formations, an unrivaled pipeline network, a workforce that knows how to move molecules at scale—now positions the state to capture a new industry: carbon management. The National Petroleum Council projects $15 to $150 billion in investment flowing into Texas carbon capture, transport, and storage by 2050. The question isn't whether this industry is coming. It's whether Texas will take the lead."

Drawing on input from nearly 100 stakeholders—industry leaders, policymakers, environmental advocates, community voices, and technical experts—the Roadmap provides a near-term action plan for coordinated state, policy, industry, and community effort to deploy carbon management technologies responsibly while sustaining economic growth, protecting public health, and supporting Texas's energy workforce.

No other state has this combination:

• Thousands of miles of CO2 and hydrogen pipelines—the largest network in the nation, ready to scale
• 1,655 billion metric tons of geological storage capacity—onshore and offshore formations ideal for permanent CO2 sequestration
• An energy workforce with the engineering talent and operational expertise to deploy new technologies at scale
• Advanced energy leadership—first in wind and solar—growing battery energy storage systems and the potential for accelerating the state's low-carbon transition through advanced nuclear, geothermal, and natural gas with carbon capture, utilization and storage (NG+CCUS)
• Industrial clusters in refining, petrochemicals, and steel are already positioned for carbon capture integration

Federal incentives—including enhanced Section 45Q tax credits—have opened a window of opportunity. Private capital is already flowing. Projects are in development. Texas has already taken important steps, but without positive coordinated state action, Texas risks fragmented permitting, community opposition, workforce shortages, and missed federal funding. Other Gulf Coast states are advancing proactive policies. Texas can either set the standard or watch it be set elsewhere.

The Roadmap recommends immediate priorities:

• Strengthening Texas’s competitiveness by modernizing and expanding existing state incentives, commissioning comprehensive economic analyses, and leveraging federal funding opportunities
• Ensuring permitting certainty and regulatory readiness for CO2 storage by supporting Class VI implementation, monitoring RRC staffing and funding needs, clarifying permitting timelines, and exploring long-term liability approaches
• Building public confidence through safety and transparency by expanding access to safety information, monitoring the need for seismic response areas, and aligning with recommended pipeline safety practices
• Supporting coordinated, responsible deployment through improvements in public engagement, better access to project information, and clear expectations for communication with communities
• Preparing Texas's workforce for new energy and industrial opportunities through statewide analyses, regional workforce mapping, new apprenticeship pathways, and reskilling programs

"George Mitchell, the Texas wildcatter who pioneered hydraulic fracturing, helped transform the American energy landscape. That same spirit of innovation now positions Texas to lead in carbon management and other advanced energy technologies."

"The Mitchell Foundation's support for this Roadmap reflects that paradox—and a wager that the ingenuity which unlocked a new era in American energy can do the same for a low-carbon future, with CGMF serving as honest broker in charting the path forward."

Read the Roadmap
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

< Go Back