Maintaining Momentum: What the CCSA is asking for in the 2026 Autumn Budget

2026 has been a pivotal year for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in the UK. Major CCUS projects are moving into construction, with new infrastructure being built, supply chains companies winning contracts and thousands of people already working on the projects that could transform how some of the UK’s most difficult emissions are tackled.

So, as the Government prepares for the Autumn Budget, the question is no longer simply whether the UK should develop CCUS. It is what growth the sector is already delivering for the country and how we can keep the momentum going.

That is the focus of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association’s (CCSA) Autumn Budget Submission.

From commitment to construction

Five CCUS projects are now actively in construction. The transport and storage networks serving HyNet and the East Coast Cluster are both more than a third complete, alongside the construction of the UK’s first CCUS-enabled cement plant, energy-from-waste facility and gas-fired power station.

The economic impact is already significant. Projects under construction have:

• awarded more than £4 billion in supply-chain contracts
• involved around 350 UK companies and subcontractors
• supported or created approximately 5,500 construction jobs
• exceeding their voluntary target of 50% UK content

CCUS is no longer just a future ambition. It is creating jobs, investment and opportunities today. The challenge is making sure that this is only the beginning.

Why does the UK need CCUS?

The simplest way to understand CCUS is to think about the parts of the economy that are hardest to decarbonise.

For some industries, switching to renewable electricity or sustainable fuels will make a huge difference. But for others, it is only part of the solution.

Take cement production. Some of its emissions come from the chemical process used to make cement, rather than simply from the fuel used to power the plant. That means even a fully renewable energy system would not eliminate all of those emissions. This is where carbon capture comes in.

Instead of allowing CO₂ from industrial processes to enter the atmosphere, it can be safely captured, transported and permanently stored deep under the seabed.

The same principle could apply across a range of industries, from chemicals to waste management and power generation.

Our latest Delivery Plan Update found that more than 100 capture projects are currently at some stage of development across the UK, showing just how broad the potential opportunity could be.

Powering growth, jobs and industry

The UK’s CCUS ambitions are also about jobs, investment and industrial competitiveness.

Projects are being developed across regions with long industrial histories, including Teesside, the Humber, North West England, North Wales, Scotland, South Wales and the East Midlands.

CCUS will help these industries decarbonise while retaining production and skilled jobs in the UK, rather than seeing them move overseas. It could also create new opportunities for engineers, manufacturers, construction companies and other skilled workers.

So, what is the CCSA asking for?

The CCSA’s message to Government is essentially to keep going. The first projects are being built and already delivering real economic benefits to their regions and across the UK, but the industry needs confidence that the next wave will follow. That means continuing to develop the East Coast Cluster and HyNet so the infrastructure being built can be used by as many emitter projects as possible.

It also means giving developers and investors greater certainty about what comes next. CCUS projects are complex, capital-intensive and take years to develop. The CCSA is therefore calling for a clear, long-term framework for deployment and market transition in the 2027 Spending Review, allowing the next projects and clusters to reach key investment decisions during this Parliament.

Access also needs to expand beyond the major clusters. Alternative CO₂ transport solutions, including shipping, road and rail, could enable more dispersed industrial sites to connect to the UK’s growing storage network.

Ultimately, the ambition is for CCUS to become a self-sustaining market, underpinned by new markets that provided supportive revenue streams for projects. These include cross-border CO₂ transport and storage with Europe, low-carbon product markets, powering data centres and greenhouse gas removal markets.

Becoming a major UK industry

The UK CCUS sector already generates more than £1 billion in annual turnover and has the potential to support tens of thousands of skilled jobs in the future. The Government’s first investment commitments are already generating significant supply chain activity across engineering, manufacturing and construction.

The UK is expected to need reliable low-carbon power alongside renewable energy. CCUS-enabled power generation could provide electricity when wind and solar output is lower, helping maintain system reliability while reducing emissions.

There is also a potentially significant international opportunity. The UK has extensive offshore geological storage, creating the potential to provide storage capacity and expertise to other countries in the future.

That will create a new export opportunity, one based on providing infrastructure, technology, expertise and storage capacity.

The next chapter

The UK has reached an important moment in its CCUS journey. The first infrastructure is being built, companies are investing, supply chains are developing and thousands of people are already working on projects across the country.

The opportunity now is to turn these first projects into the foundation of a thriving UK industry.

That is ultimately what sits behind the CCSA’s Autumn Budget Submission, to build on the progress already made and give businesses the confidence to take the next step.