As part of London Climate Week, the Global CCS Institute and Imperial College London hosted a public facing event, Scaling Carbon Management for Climate Action, which brought together climate and CCS experts to explore the role of CCS and engineered carbon management in achieving global climate goals.
The convening explored several factors shaping the future of CCS, from storage infrastructure needs to the financing required to move projects forward. Attendees also heard firsthand insights from major UK CCS project efforts, alongside a broader perspective on how carbon management is evolving across the Asia-Pacific region. Together, these sessions highlighted both the encouraging progress being made and the work still ahead to scale carbon management for climate action in the UK and beyond.
Following the Data: The London Register of Subsurface CO2 Storage
Setting the stage for the event, Professor Sam Krevor of Imperial College London introduced the London Register of Subsurface CO₂ Storage, a publicly accessible record tracking the amount of CO₂ permanently stored through geological storage projects worldwide. With more than 700 CCS projects in development or operation globally, the Register provides an important benchmark for measuring the contribution of geological CO₂ storage to global decarbonisation.
The Register shows that 383 million tonnes of CO₂ has been permanently stored since 1996, including 45 million tonnes in 2023 alone. Launched in 2025, the Registrar provides the historical evidence base needed to quantify the contribution of CO₂ storage to climate mitigation, reduce uncertainty in future projections, and support evidence-based policy decisions.
Independently verified by DNV, the Register serves as a trusted resource for tracking progress as CCS deployment continues to expand worldwide and net-zero targets near.
Financing CCS Initiatives in the UK and Globally
One of the clearest messages from the financing and insurance panel was that CCS technologies are increasingly well established, and that the next step is creating the confidence needed for investment. Stable policy, clear long-term storage responsibilities, predictable revenue streams, and clear allocation of project risks were highlighted as key to enabling bankable projects.
Providing a commercial banking lens, Leonidas Theodorou with Standard Charted noted that lenders are more comfortable financing complex infrastructure when risks are clearly understood and appropriately allocated. For CCS, bankability depends less on the technology itself than on stable policy and regulatory frameworks, clear ownership of long-term storage obligations, and predictable revenue models that support projects over decades. In the UK’s first CCS clusters, that confidence has been built through targeted government policies and support that reduces risks private capital is not yet willing to absorb.
Building on the financing perspective, Marie Reiter of WTW noted that the insurance industry has an important role to play in developing insurance products that support project bankability, complementing the policy support and risk-sharing provided by government. While insurers are familiar with many operational risks through their experience in the oil and gas sector, such as property damage and well control, CCS introduces new challenges, including geological storage performance, carbon credit revenue protection, and long-term liability. As more projects are developed and operational experience grows, these risks are expected to become easier to underwrite. Ms Reiter also emphasised that insurers should consider developing insurance solutions across the CCS value chain as a whole, rather than addressing individual components in isolation, given that interconnected risks are becoming increasingly important as projects scale.
A recurring theme from both speakers was that policy and regulatory certainty can be just as important as direct financial support in enabling CCS. The UK’s Track-1 model was highlighted as an example of this approach where government-backed long-term liabilities paired with revenue support for transport and storage infrastructure helped attract commercial lenders and institutional capital.
A Look into CCS Project Development in the UK
Turning from the financing landscape to project delivery, Mr Hans Sizoo of the Northern Endurance Partnership provided a practical perspective on how these concepts are being translated into real CCS projects in the UK.
The Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) is the privately owned transport and storage joint venture underpinning the East Coast Cluster, one of the UK’s first government-backed CCS clusters. The cluster brings together projects across Teesside and the Humber, including Net Zero Teesside Power, which aims to be one of the world’s first gas-fired power stations with CCS.
The presentation highlighted the complexity of delivering large-scale CCS infrastructure, emphasising that project coordination is a key component of successful deployment. Early alignment across stakeholders, from policy makers, financiers and local and community stakeholders was identified as essential to keeping projects on track.
Mr Sizoo also outlined the journey from policy development to Final Investment Decision (FID) for the East Coast Cluster’s first CCS projects, highlighting the key milestones along the way. These included the development of the UK’s CCS business models, including regulated transport and storage arrangements and long-term revenue support mechanisms, such as Carbon Capture Contracts for Difference, as well as the selection of the East Coast Cluster as a Track 1 project. Together, these commercial and regulatory mechanisms provided the foundation for around £8 billion in project financing for NEP and Net Zero Teesside Power.
Strong local support was also identified as an important enabler, with the economic opportunities associated with CCS, including jobs, apprenticeships, and regional growth, highlighted as important drivers of public support.
Overall, the presentation reinforced that large-scale CCS deployment relies on more than technical capability, requiring coordinated policy, investment, infrastructure, and stakeholder support to bring projects to fruition.
Global Snapshot: CCS Perspectives from Indonesia and China
Looking beyond the UK, the final session explored how CCS is gathering momentum across the Asia-Pacific region, with Indonesia and China showcasing ambitious strategies to accelerate carbon management efforts.
Dr Eddy Soeparno, Deputy Speaker of Indonesia’s People’s Consultative Assembly, highlighted the country’s ambition to become a regional CCS hub. With an estimated 600 gigatonnes of potential CO₂ storage, Indonesia aims to support both its own decarbonisation and future cross-border CCS developments, with the aim of providing regional storage solutions for nearby industrial economies, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
Dr Soeparno further outlined three national priorities shaping Indonesia’s approach: strengthening energy resilience by reducing dependence on imported fuels, supporting the government’s economic growth ambitions, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Progress is already underway, with a Presidential Regulation on CCS introduced in 2024 and memoranda of understanding signed with Japan, South Korea and Singapore to enable future cross-border CCS collaboration. The presentation also highlighted the importance of creating an attractive investment environment, with legal certainty, consistent policy and fiscal incentives seen as key to unlocking private investment.
While Indonesia’s presentation focused on creating the conditions for future investment and cross-border development, in a brief presentation the Institute’s Head of Country-China, Dr Xiaoliang Yang, highlighted China’s approach to scaling CCUS deployment. Dr Yang noted that China has invested in CCUS research and development since the early 2000s, with deployment accelerating following the country’s 2020 commitment to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Alongside these policy developments, China is developing large industrial CCUS hubs with shared transport and storage infrastructure serving sectors including power generation, steel, cement, chemicals and refining. Dr Yang also highlighted the role of targeted financing mechanisms, including the Carbon Emission Reduction Facility (CERF), which provides financing for eligible decarbonisation projects, including CCUS, as part of China’s broader approach to supporting deployment at scale.
Carbon Management and Climate Action Roundtable
Alongside the public-facing event at London Climate Action Week, the Global CCS Institute and Imperial College London hosted a Carbon Management Roundtable, which brought together a broad range of stakeholders for an engaging discussion on the role of carbon management within wider climate action.
The roundtable provided a forum to exchange perspectives on current priorities, identify areas of shared interest and potential collaboration, while addressing how carbon management can support industrial decarbonisation. Participants represented a range of organisations, including nature-based organisations, technology companies, non-profits and industry associations, all with an interest in sustainability and driving the scale-up of climate solutions. The Institute looks forward to continuing these conversations and bringing together stakeholders from across sectors to foster collaboration, share knowledge, and advance practical solutions that support global climate goals.
The Path Forward
From the London Register of Subsurface CO2 Storage to the UK’s first CCS clusters and emerging opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region, the event highlighted the breadth of progress underway in carbon management. While challenges remain, the conversations reflected a growing focus on delivering projects, attracting investment and building the partnerships needed to scale carbon management as part of a broader climate response.
