Media Releases

Media Releases

Taskforce urges UK action to deliver CCUS and clean growth opportunities

19th July 2018

Location(s): London

A new report to the UK Government says carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) has a key role to play in decarbonising the country and unlocking major economic, social and environmental benefits.

The report, Delivering Clean Growth: CCUS Cost Challenge Taskforce Report, makes a series of recommendations towards lowering the cost of CCUS deployment from the mid-2020s onwards.

The report responds to the UK Government’s commitments put forward in the Clean Growth Strategy to reach emission reduction targets through deployment of CCUS technology.

UK Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, the Rt Hon Claire Perry, says in the Report: “There is a genuine opportunity for the UK to become a global technology leader for CCUS, working internationally with industry and governments to drive down the cost of deployment.”

The report, resulting from extensive consultation between leading industry and academic experts, finds that widespread CCUS deployment will help to decarbonise the electricity, gas and industrial sectors, in addition to enabling the creation of new economies like hydrogen.

It recognises that CCUS will allow UK industries to remain competitive, retaining and creating high-value jobs at the same time as unleashing new industries and low carbon products.

It also finds that creating strategic industrial “hubs and clusters” for the first wave of CCUS projects will help drive CCUS costs down.

The report echoes recommendations given by the UK Committee on Climate Change on the pressing need to deploy CCUS at scale to achieve the 2050 targets with at least two CCUS clusters operational from the mid-2020s. It also follows a report by University College London (UCL) commissioned by the Global CCS Institute which made the case for CCS as a key part of an overall decarbonisation strategy.

In its recommendations, the Taskforce emphasises the urgency of investing in CCUS immediately given deployment timescales. This investment will give the UK the opportunity to become a global leader in this field.

The world authority on CCS, the Global CCS Institute, says the Report recognises the importance of CCUS as a unique technology in decarbonising industry and creating new energy economies.

Institute CEO and UK CCUS Council member, Brad Page, says the report represents an important step in providing clear guidance to the UK government with a defined strategic approach to CCUS development.

“The Report lays the foundation for the UK to move to a new energy economy with decarbonised heavy industry and fuels that complement renewable deployment. Early movement may also provide the UK with an opportunity to develop and market new technologies.”

The report and its recommendations will play an important role in the consolidation of the UK Government’s CCUS Deployment Pathway to be published by the end of 2018.

Later this year, the Global CCS Institute is partnering with the UK Government to host an international CCUS conference in Edinburgh (November 29).

CCUS and CCS are proven, safe technologies which have been operating successfully for more than 45 years. CCUS revenues have been instrumental to investment decisions made in China, the United States and the Middle East.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has called CCS “the only technology solution capable of delivering significant emissions reductions from the use of fossil fuels in power generation and industrial processes.”

The UK CCUS Taskforce report can be downloaded here.

Ends

Antonios Papaspiropoulos: +61 401 944 478  antonios.papaspiropoulos@globalccsinstitute.com

Lucy Temple-Smith: +61 466 982 068  lucy.temple-smith@globalccsinstitute.com

Annya Schneider (Brussels): +32 25503972  annya.schneider@globalccsinstitute.com

About the Global CCS Institute: Our mission is to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a vital technology to tackle climate change and provide energy security. Working with and on behalf of our Members, we drive the adoption of CCS as quickly and cost effectively as possible by sharing expertise, building capacity and providing advice and support so that this vital technology can play its part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our diverse international membership consists governments, global corporations, small companies, research bodies and nongovernment organisations, committed to CCS as an integral part of a low-carbon future. We are headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with regional offices in Washington DC, Brussels, Beijing and Tokyo. For more information, visit www.globalccsinstitute.com

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