Recent developments of CO 2 capture and subsequent catalytic hydrogenation to C1 products are discussed and evaluated in this Perspective. Such processes can become a crucial part of a more sustainable energy economy in the future. The individual steps of this catalytic carbon capture and usage (CCU) approach also provide the basis for chemical hydrogen batteries. Here, specifically the reversible CO 2 /formic acid (or bicarbonate/formate salts) system is presented, and the utilized catalysts are discussed.

A series of alkyl ammonium (or imidazolium) based ionic liquids was tested as novel and potentially green absorbent for CO2 capture and utilization. By exploiting various amino acids as counter ions for ionic liquids, CO2 capture and hydrogenation to formate occur with high activity and excellent productivity utilizing arginine. The reaction was easily scalable without any significant drop in formate production, and the catalyst was reused for five consecutive runs leading to an overall TON of 12,741 for the formation of formate salt.