The Action Plan is aimed at establishing a cost-effective, investable, and sustainable pathway for CCUS that supports cost reduction and enables commercial deployment in the UK.
Key to this is a focus on collaboration with industry, ensuring there is a business environment that works for all involved in CCUS through identifying the appropriate commercial frameworks to enable investment, innovation and cost reduction.
The Government will work with stakeholders to identify existing infrastructure that could be re-used to support CCUS projects and will develop a policy on re-use of infrastructure for the purpose of CCUS.
The UK will also examine in detail the scope of the opportunity for maximising economies of scale by developing a shared carbon dioxide infrastructure network in an industrial centre, and will report by the end of 2019.
The UK will continue to lead efforts working with other Governments and industry, to accelerate global deployment of CCUS, which will help to drive down costs and expand the emerging market for CCUS technology.
The Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), the trade body for the CCUS industry in the UK, has welcomed the news. If deployed at scale in the UK, CCUS technology could boost regional growth in our industrial heartlands, create a world-leading green industry and drive deeper decarbonisation across the UK economy, in particular in the harder to reach sectors like heavy industry, heat and transport.
Luke Warren, Chief Executive of the CCSA, said, "“These are exciting times for those developing CCUS in the UK, and this announcement represents an essential step forward for this vital industry."
"If we are to have any hope of meeting our existing climate change targets, let alone achieving net zero emissions, we must support the commercialisation of CCUS today. The Government’s announcement in Edinburgh recognises the need for urgent action, with a commendable commitment to develop the first project by the mid-2020s as a first step towards having the ability to deploy CCUS at scale."
"The Government have today stepped up and shown global leadership by committing to this ambitious and deliverable action plan. We look forward to working with Government over the next year on how to deliver a number of regional CCUS clusters that will be needed to achieve commercial scale deployment.”