The deployment of "Power-to-Methanol" technologies by exploiting electrochemical reactions with CO2 as feedstock has received traction lately; primarily due to the continuous drop in renewable electricity price. Here, we compare techno-economic and climate benefits of three emerging "Power-to-Methanol" routes, including one-step CO2-to-methanol electrolysis; two-step synthesis, involving H2O electrolysis; and three-step synthesis, involving H2O electrolysis, and CO2-to-CO electrolysis. This study identifies key economic drivers and sets the technological goals for "Power-to-Methanol" routes to be competitive. We report that under current techno-economic conditions, none of these three emerging routes are compelling with levelized cost $860-$1585/ton methanol, which is similar to 2-4 times higher than the current market price ($300/ton-$500/ton). However, under future conditions (notably electricity price <3 cents/kWh), all three electrochemical routes become compelling with the levelized cost between $430-$435/ton methanol. Cradle-to-gate life-cycle-analysis reveals that electricity emission factor below <130 g CO2/kWh is required for "Power-to-Methanol" pathways to provide climate benefits over conventional route. When electricity is sourced fully from wind and nuclear power, all three routes would provide net negative emission potential of 170-195 thousand ton CO2/year. While economically all three routes seem to be equally competitive under optimistic scenario, at present only two-step synthesis is technically feasible at scale. Consequently, we establish performance targets for CO2 electrolysis under future conditions (electricity price of 3 cents/ kWh), including a current density (>130 mA/cm(2) (CO2-to-CH3OH), >360 mA/cm(2) (CO2-to-CO)), and energy efficiency >40%, which would make one- and three-step "Power-to-Methanol" routes economically and environmentally competitive over fossil-based process in future.
