Sustainable Porous Carbon Derived from Lignin for High‐Performance CO ₂ Capture

ABSTRACT The accelerating rise of atmospheric CO 2 remains a central driver of global climate change, highlighting the urgent need for scalable and energy‐efficient carbon capture technologies. Porous carbons are among the most promising solid adsorbents due to their high surface area, chemical stability, and tunable pore structures, which facilitate efficient CO 2 adsorption and low regeneration energy. Lignin is a renewable aromatic by‐product of the pulp and paper industry, which offers exceptional promise as a sustainable carbon source due to its abundance (50–70 Mt/year), high carbon content (>60 wt%), and rich aromatic structure. Unlike previous reviews broadly covering biomass‐derived carbons, this review focuses on recent advances in lignin‐derived porous carbons for CO 2 capture, correlating preparation strategies with structural evolution and adsorption performance. Chemical activation, templating, and hybrid methods enable precise control of ultramicropores (<0.7 nm), mesoporous channels, and heteroatom functionalities, which synergistically determine adsorption capacity, selectivity, and regeneration energy. Emerging approaches such as amine functionalization introduce strong chemisorption sites for post‐combustion and direct‐air capture, while AI‐assisted design accelerates understanding of synthesis–property–performance relationships. Despite remarkable progress, remaining challenges in feedstock variability, scalability, and greener process development are discussed along with future prospects for sustainable CO 2 capture using lignin‐derived porous carbons.