Energy Bill to Include Critical Legislation for Decarbonising Industrial Clusters using CCUS

10 May 2022, London – The Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), the trade body for the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) industry, welcomes the Queen’s Speech which announced a number of legislative proposals of relevance to CCUS.

Key amongst these is the intention to bring forward an Energy Security Bill to deliver a more secure, clean and affordable energy system. CCUS and low-carbon hydrogen are highlighted as a key benefit of the Bill “attracting billions in private investment and supporting tens of thousands of new, skilled jobs across the UK” whilst creating new industries and transforming the UK’s industrial heartlands. The Bill will introduce new business models for carbon capture and CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure to enable the development of low-carbon industrial clusters across the UK.

The CCSA would like to see additional legislative proposals to enable CCUS in the Energy Security Bill, including:

Recognising the value of Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) such as Direct Air Capture with Storage (DACS) and Bioenergy with CCS (BECCS);
Enabling the repurposing of existing assets for net zero activities including CCUS and hydrogen;
Providing the public sector with the required spending and other powers to oversee the rapid development of CO₂ networks and regularly allocate and sign contracts with CO₂ capture projects under the government’s proposed business models.

Ruth Herbert, Chief Executive of the CCSA, said:

“The UK’s commitment to net zero is a key focus in today’s announcements and CCUS has a critical role to play in meeting the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget. The industry has worked intensively with the UK Government for a number of years on a credible investment framework for CCUS deployment and we are pleased to see that the necessary enabling powers will be set out in the forthcoming Energy Bill.

Today the Government also announced proposals to establish the UK Infrastructure Bank to play an important role in encouraging investment in low carbon infrastructure, including CCUS – recognising that CO₂ transport and storage networks will be critical strategic infrastructure for decarbonising the UK’s regions. With this in mind, we are also pleased to see the emphasis on levelling up – we hope to see empowerment of local leaders in the development of net zero industrial clusters, given the associated jobs and economic benefits that will be created.”