Former, flexible carbon capture was easily understood (10)
I believe the answer is:
explicable
'former flexible' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'carbon capture was easily understood' is the wordplay.
'carbon' becomes 'C' (chemical symbol).
'capture' is an insertion indicator.
'was' becomes 'ex' (I've seen this in other clues).
'easily understood' becomes 'pliable' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ex'+'pliable'='expliable'
'c' placed into 'expliable' is 'EXPLICABLE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for explicable that I've seen is " readily understood".)