Abstract CO2 emissions from distributed energy systems are expected to become increasingly significant, accounting for about 20% for current global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2030. This article reviews, assesses and compares the techno-economic performance of CO2 capture from distributed energy systems taking into account differences in timeframe, fuel type and energy plant type. The analysis includes the energy plant, CO2 capture and compression, and distributed transport between the capture site and a trunk pipeline. Key parameters, e.g., capacity factor, energy prices and interest rate, were normalized for the performance comparison. The findings of this study indicate that in the short-mid term (around 2020–2025), the energy penalty for CO2 capture ranges between 23% and 30% for coal-fired plants and 10–28% for natural gas-fired plants. Costs are between 30 and 140 €/tCO2 avoided for plant scales larger than 100 MWLHV (fuel input) and 50–150 €/tCO2 avoided for 10–100 MWLHV. In the long-term (2030 and beyond), the energy penalty for CO2 capture might reduce to between 4% and 9% and the costs to around 10–90 €/tCO2 avoided for plant scales larger than 100 MWLHV, 25–100 €/tCO2 avoided for 10–100 MWLHV and 35–150 €/tCO2 avoided for 10 MWLHV or smaller. CO2 compression and distributed transport costs are significant. For a distance of 30 km, 10 €/tCO2 transported was calculated for scales below 500 tCO2/day and more than 50 €/tCO2 transported for scales below 5 tCO2/day (equivalent to 1 MWLHV natural gas). CO2 compression is responsible for the largest share of these costs. CO2 capture from distributed energy systems is not prohibitively expensive and has a significant cost reduction potential in the long term. Distributed CO2 emission sources should also be considered for CCS, adding to the economies of scale of CO2 transport and storage, and optimizing the deployment of CCS.