The Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), the trade body for the Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) industry in the UK, has welcomed the publication of the Committee on Climate Change’s net zero report.
This follows news in March confirming the formation of the CCUS Advisory Group which will work with Government to develop an investment framework necessary to deliver the first CCUS projects in the 2020s. In April the BEIS Select Committee’s report on CCUS also called for the Government to raise its ambition, calling for three clusters to be developed by 2025.
Luke Warren, Chief Executive of the CCSA, said:
“As the Committee has emphasised in this report, CCUS is a necessity, not an option, if we are to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The Government’s current plan to develop one CCUS facility by 2025, with an option to deploy at scale in the 2030s, is not consistent with this ambition. We therefore look forward to working with the Government as it responds to this challenge, by cementing CCUS as an essential pillar of its net zero strategy.”
Paul Davies, Chair of the CCUS Advisory Group said:
“The CCC has identified that all options for achieving net-zero emissions in the UK require a significant role for CCS. They have understood that the deployment and development of appropriate business models is needed to bring in sustained significant investment from the private sector. This requires long-term policies and a stable commercial structure attractive to investors; precisely what the CCUS Advisory Group is designing with Government. This will give industry and Government the ability to invest in CCUS at scale, realising the ambitions of the IPCC, BEIS Select Committee and the CCC. With these commercial structures in place; the time to invest is now.”