The UK’s CCS Moment: From Vision to Delivery

Key CCS industry players gathered at a Foresight webinar this week to discuss investment progress, gaps, and next steps, with one clear takeaway: Now is the time for the industry to deliver.

CCS is at a crucial point in its development. With two track 1 projects now reaching final investment decision (Net Zero Teesside and HyNet North West), more funding promised in the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review, and the first equity-investment in a CCS project by the National Wealth Fund, progress is ramping up, and money is starting to flow.

These developments and more were discussed at the Foresight Webinar titled: CCUS Investment and Project Development Progress, which brought together speakers from across the value chain to discuss latest developments, funding, and key next steps for sector development.

One of the key takeaways: The UK is in a much stronger position than it has ever been with two large-scale, cluster projects now at FID, regulatory systems largely in place and ground-breaking innovation reaching market stage. Speaking on this, Mark Sommerfeld, UK Director, CCSA said:

“No one’s pretending this isn’t complicated and that it hasn’t been going on for a long time, but we are now far in away more advanced than we have ever been before… I am confident that as this industry gets underway that these are issues that we can resolve”.

Cohesive growth and scale can also lie in partnership with our European neighbours. As the UK and EU consult on linking their respective emissions trading schemes (ETS), there is scope to build a comprehensive, pan-European carbon and greenhouse gas removal market with the UK playing a key role as an exporter of knowledge, and an importer of greenhouse gas removals.

Speaking on this, Catherine Wainwright, Commercial and Investment Director at the Peak Cluster said: “A strong carbon price is going to be a very helpful tool to potentially reduce the amount of government support that’s needed to projects”.

Technology-wise, the industry is ready for CCS. With projects in Europe and beyond already demonstrating CCS in action at sites such as Northern Lights and Brevik in Norway, the technology is proven, and not a barrier to growth.

“Technologically-wise, we’re ready. So don’t worry about the technology, worry about the business models”, said Jason Frost, Commercial Development Manager, SLB Capturi.

Here are some other key takeaways:

CCUS is finally in delivery, but urgency remains

With two UK projects now at Final Investment Decision and more under development, we’ve moved beyond feasibility. However, there's a strong sense that this Parliament may be the UK’s final opportunity to establish CCUS as a competitive industrial sector.

Peak Cluster demonstrates a new business model

The National Wealth Fund’s £28.6m equity stake in Peak Cluster (which hosts 40% of the UK’s cement and lime manufacturers) marks a new approach, one where government-backed investors become project partners and stakeholders, rather than just benefactors or loaners of capital.

Policy is pivoting from sequencing to scale

The government’s shift from a rigid "track" system to a portfolio approach was broadly welcomed as a sign of ongoing market maturity, giving multiple clusters a clearer path to develop in parallel.

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The UK’s nascent CCS market has now built a strong position for itself – one which is backed by government confidence and, more importantly, money. Industry is now powering ahead and we are fast approaching deployment with completion timelines within this parliament.

However, now is perhaps the most crucial time, and the proof of the pudding will be in the delivery.