While investment decisions have been made on the Track 1 clusters, the Committee found the prospects for engineered removals had worsened due to delays to finalising business models.
For the required emissions savings to achieve the 2030 NDC, the Committee found there were significant risks are attached to 20% predominantly for policies to drive industrial electrification and the uptake of CCS in industry, improvement to efficiencies of petrol, diesel, and hybrid vehicles, the decarbonisation of public sector buildings, and plans for peatland restoration and tree planting.
In its priority actions the Committee said there was an urgent need to finalise business models for engineered removals so that these can be opened to the market. Despite the progress on CCS infrastructure for removals to connect to, without a clear funding source it is becoming increasingly challenging for engineered removals to deliver the emissions savings of around 6 MtCO2e in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP) by 2030.
The Carbon Capture & Storage Association (CCSA) welcomed the report and its recognition of the important advances being made on deploying CCUS, which came just days after the launch of the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, which set out CCUS’s central role in securing the future of UK industry, driving clean growth, and supporting high-quality jobs across the country.
The CCC rightly raises concerns that the window for deploying CCUS in line with the UK’s carbon budgets is narrowing, said the CCSA. While recent announcements from government are very encouraging, the focus must now shift from ambition to delivery. Meeting the levels of CCUS and engineered greenhouse gas (GHG) removals required to stay on track with our net zero commitments demands urgent and sustained action.
In particular, the CCSA echoes the CCC’s calls for government to finalise support frameworks for engineered GHG removals, and to move forward with the deployment of industrial emitter projects.
This can be achieved by setting out next steps for utilising the storage capacity in HyNet and the East Coast Custer, reaching financial close on the Acorn project and Viking CCS, and outlining a clear future route to market for additional projects by establishing allocation rounds – all of which are vital to establishing a mature and competitive CCUS industry in the UK.
Olivia Powis, CCSA CEO, said, “The CCC’s report is a clear signal that we must move beyond strategy and into action. Following the positive government commitments made during the Spending Review and Industrial Strategy, the CCUS industry is ready to deliver once Government sets out its next steps on allocation and provides long-term certainty on market mechanisms. This is not just about hitting climate targets, it’s about protecting UK industry, creating jobs and maintaining our position as a global leader in carbon capture and storage.”
Mike Maudsley, CEO of UK energy from waste operator enfinium, commented, “The Climate Change Committee’s Progress Report is a timely reminder that we need a long-term strategy for decarbonising society’s unrecyclable waste, whilst pursuing all efforts to reduce and reuse.”
“By combining waste to energy with carbon capture and storage, WECCS can support the Government’s new Industrial Strategy through investment, jobs, reliable homegrown power and high-integrity carbon removals that can neutralise emissions across the economy. Our Parc Adfer CCS project in North Wales and pioneering CCS pilot plants across the country can help to lay the foundations for this important new industry.”