Poll results: Will CCUS play a key role in the UK’s push for net zero?

Amongst the host of the measures outlined in the UK government’s “Powering up Britain” blueprint (which include the launch of funds to support investment in floating offshore wind, and a new competition to drive small modular reactor technology development) Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) looms large.

CCUS, which uses a range of technologies to capture, store and potentially reuse and store CO2 emissions from industrial sources, has had something of stuttering start in the UK over the past decade and half, with a series of supposedly “game-changing” projects and competitions abandoned in recent years.  

Now though, it's back at the heart of government plans and has been hailed by energy minister Grant Shapps as a technology that will be essential to our push for net zero, enabling us to continue to safely use fossil fuels whilst we transition to an oil and gas free world.  

The latest plans centre around two key industrial clusters in Northern England: the East Coast Cluster and the HyNet cluster, which between them include eight separate CCUS projects. The most recent announcement follows a commitment made in Jeremy Hunt’s Spring budget to invest £20bn in the sector over the next 20 years.