Carbon Capture, Use and Storage: UK potential

Carbon capture, use and storage is a critical technology that will enable the UK to successfully undergo the energy transition process and deliver a future in which we are net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide can be captured from fossil fuel power station flue gases, from the waste product of hydrogen manufacture and as a necessary but unwanted by-product of many large-scale industrial processes.

For almost two decades UK governments have shied away from a firm commitment to capture carbon and permanently bury it, despite the desire of many large industries to deliver the technology. Research collaborations between UK academia and UK-based industry have demonstrated both the viability of the technology, operational elsewhere in the world, and evaluated the massive storage volume potential that exists in depleted petroleum fields and associated saline aquifers beneath the UK continental shelf.

Now is the time for the UK to deliver operational CCUS if it is to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets.