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UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Reveals Ambitious Vision for Future of CCUS
21st December 2023
Today, the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has unveiled its forward-looking vision for CCUS beyond 2030. The plan charts a course for the sector's evolution, moving from early government-supported initiatives to establishing a competitive and self-sufficient market by 2035. Key strategies outlined in the vision include:
- Transitioning to a competitive allocation process for carbon capture projects by 2027 to accelerate the growth of the UK’s CCUS sector.
- Creating pathways for projects unable to transport CO2 via pipelines to enter the market from 2025, utilising alternative transportation methods like shipping, road, and rail.
- Forming an industry-led working group to pinpoint and implement solutions aimed at reducing CO2 capture costs.
The vision's overarching goal is to nurture CCUS into a high-value national asset, playing a vital role in achieving the UK's net-zero target by 2050, and potentially contributing up to £5 billion annually to the country's economy by the same year.
This announcement follows the recent commitment of a £20 billion investment in CCUS technologies, targeting the storage of 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per year and fostering 50,000 jobs by 2030, across four industrial clusters.
As part of this vision announcement, the UK government has also provided updates on the progress of the developing clusters, including an expansion of the Track 1 clusters and an expedited timeline for Track 2 cluster anchor projects by 2028-29.