Carbon Capture – Where it fits in the UK Government's Ten Point Plan

Becoming a world-leader in carbon capture, usage and storage is at the heart of UK plans for a green industrial revolution.

The Ten Point Plan makes it clear that by capturing carbon from power generation, low carbon hydrogen production and industrial processes, and storing it underground so that it cannot enter the atmosphere, CCUS technology will play a critical role in addressing the UK’s ambition to become a net zero economy. The Government aims to use CCUS technology to revitalise industrial regions and capture and store 10 Mt of Co2 per year by 2030. Recognising that no one country has yet captured the CCUS technology market, the Ten Point Plan emphasises the UK’s unique position to lead in this respect, with the unrivalled asset of having the North Sea that can be used to store captured carbon under the seabed.

The government sees in CCUS technology a means to contribute to the economic transformation of the UK’s industrial regions, enhancing the long-term competitiveness of the UK industry. In fact, the Ten Point Plan reveals a £1 billion CCUS Infrastructure Fund that will be used to establish CCUS technology in two industrial clusters by mid 2020s, and aim for four of these clusters by 2030, saving the equivalent of 9% of the 2018 UK emissions between 2023 and 2032. The Ten Point Plan concludes that CCUS technology would support up to 50,000 jobs in the UK by 2030, with a sizeable export potential.

There is also a cross-over between CCUS and other elements of the Government’s Ten Point Plan. The Ten Point Plan recognises the link between low carbon hydrogen production growth and the expansion and increase of CCUS infrastructure, and the combination of CCUS technology and hydrogen will render the creation of various CCUS clusters possible in what the Government describes as industrial “SuperPlaces”. To set this plan in motion, the UK government is expecting to execute in 2021 a process for CCUS development, working in collaboration with industry and set out further details of a revenue mechanism for industrial carbon capture and hydrogen projects.

With plans for more than 30 new integrated CCUS facilities announced globally since 2017¹ and increased action by governments worldwide to incentivise technologies that capture carbon emissions, the Ten Point Plan is part of the UK’s plan to becoming a global leader in CCUS technology.

HSF will follow new UK policy papers on CCUS closely - follow our Energy Notes blog for more information as the policies evolve.

1. https://www.iea.org/reports/ccus-in-clean-energy-transitions/a-new-era-f...