The CCSA’s annual conference, CCUS 2021: Leading on net zero and clean growth, took place on the 12th-14th of October 2021. The conference brought together a range of delegates from across the CCUS sector, including policymakers, industry representatives, CCUS developers, technology providers, local authorities and others.
On the first day of the conference the CCSA released its new CCUS Animation, which can be viewed here. This animation gives an introduction to CCUS, its applications and the vital role that it must play in achieving net zero across the economy.
Baroness Liddell, President of the CCSA, kicked off the first session of the conference with a discussion on driving the net zero transition through CCUS. The Baroness was joined by Dame Judith Hackitt (Make UK), Joanna Whittington (DG Energy & Security at BEIS), John Johnson (Director of Development, SSE Thermal) and the incoming CCSA CEO Ruth Herbert, with all the speakers highlighting that beyond the challenges ahead, new opportunities await CCUS in the UK. Other sessions on the first day included public perception of CCUS with great engagement from BEIS who discussed their public perception report. Day 1 also featured a sponsored session from Shell on a customer’s perspective of CCUS and the final session of the day focussed on a highly interesting deep dive into negative emissions technologies.
On the second day, The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, gave the keynote speech of the conference. The Secretary of State emphasised the Government’s commitment to CCUS and the important role that CCUS will play in delivering the UK’s Net Zero target. During the Q&A he agreed that building public support is key and collaboration between industry and Government will be crucial here. This was followed by two sessions on the UK’s CCUS clusters, with proposals from Scotland, Teesside, Humber, South Wales and the North West represented. The clusters highlighted how they can enable a variety of industries to reach net zero whilst making a significant contribution to regional growth in the UK’s industrial heartlands. Day 2 also featured excellent sponsored sessions from Carbon Clean, who discussed Carbon Capture as a Service (CCaaS) which provides customers with a streamlined and simple means of capturing carbon, and a session from our platinum sponsor SSE Thermal, who held a great interactive session with breakout rooms with a focus on R&D, collaboration and consenting. The day was rounded off with a very insightful session on CCUS at Dispersed Sites.
The final day of the conference began with a breakfast session featuring an introduction to the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC). BP also held an excellent sponsored session focussing on delivering the UK Hydrogen Strategy. The final two sessions of the conference looked at CCUS on the European and International Stages, featuring speakers from the EU Commission, EU Energy Ministries, Bellona Europa and IEA GHG. We were also joined by Jennifer Wilcox from the US Department of Energy, Syrie Crouch, VP CCS Shell and Jarad Daniels (also from the US Department of Energy). To close the conference Olivia Powis, CCSA UK Head of Office and Ruth Herbert summarised a fabulous three days of content, collaboration and forward thinking with CCUS at its heart. Ruth made clear that looking ahead to COP26, the UK can be a leader in the industry and that now is the time for CCUS to deliver on net zero and clean growth, and the CCSA is ready to be an integral part of this action.
The CCSA is delighted to announce that CCUS 2020: Delivering clean and sustainable growth will take place on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd December 2020 as a free online event.
Register your place today at https://whova.com/web/ccus_202012/
The goal of having the first CCUS sites operating in the UK by the mid-2020s requires current momentum to be sustained. Furthermore, as projects continue to be advanced, a wider set of stakeholders – including the finance community, civil society and the supply chain – will need to become actively engaged in their delivery.
The development of regional CCUS sites can make an important contribution to addressing some of the pressing challenges facing us today. While CCUS is accepted to be critical to reaching net zero, it is also increasingly recognised as an important contributor to the government’s “levelling up” agenda and the goal of building back greener and stronger. With the UK hosting COP26 in 2021, there is the opportunity for the UK to build on its ambition of becoming a leader in this essential technology.
CCUS 2020: Delivering Clean & Sustainable Growth will provide delegates with the latest developments in this exciting sector. From strategic keynotes, to deep-dives into the realities of project delivery, to insights from industry and technical leaders: the conference will give you a wealth of ideas and inspiration as well as chances to network with industry, policymakers and influencers from around the globe.
CCUS 2020 is sponsored by SSE Thermal, BP, Carbon Clean, Equinor and ERM.
Ambition, leadership and scale are essential if the UK is going to capitalise on the opportunities presented by carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), delegates heard yesterday at CCUS 2019: Capturing the clean growth opportunities.
The conference, hosted by the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), brought together nearly 200 people from the CCUS sector, including industry providers, potential customers, policymakers, investors and researchers.
The development of Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) is a priority infrastructure challenge for the UK and a central pillar of the Government’s industrial strategy, clean growth and low carbon policies. The Climate Change Committee has identified the vital role that CCUS needs to play in the journey to decarbonisation; Chris Stark, the Committee’s Chief Executive, reinforced this at the conference, saying “Let’s bury the idea that CCUS is a fantasy… CCUS is absolutely essential to meet the net zero target.”
The change in our energy sector over the last decade has been dramatic but the transformation to a net-zero world will be unprecedented. CCUS is essential to ensure that the energy transition will benefit every part of the economy, going further into power as well as industry and – through the production of clean hydrogen – the heating and transport sectors.