UKCCSRC Spring 2025 Conference – Plenary 2 & Closing Keynote (ECR Meeting Fund)

Neil Robinson (Queen’s University Belfast) shares his takeaways from the “Plenary 2 and Closing Keynote” session at the UKCCSRC Spring 2025 Conference.

The final session of the UKCCS Research Community Spring Conference asked “What’s next for CCS in the UK?”. The session featured three Plenary speakers, and concluded with a Keynote.

The first speaker was Mark Sommerfeld from CCSA (Carbon Capture and Storage Association), which works as the UK trade association for the commercial deployment of CCUS. Mark’s talk asked where would the industry like to see things moving?

Setting the scene, Mark began by highlighting key movements and developments for CCS in the UK since the recent change of government, including a £21.7 billion funding commitment announced in October 2024, and launch of the Clean Power 2030 Plan. He further highlighted the recently released CCC (Climate Change Committee) Seventh Carbon Budget, quoting the clear statement by CCC that they “cannot see a route to Net Zero that does not include CCS”.

Key next steps centred around a comprehensive spending review to establish the funding envelope needed for widespread, long-term deployment, with the conclusion that the current government should commit £4.2 billion per year as average annual support. Direct impacts predicted from this investment included unlocking £26 billion in private investment by 2030 and the creation of 50,000+ UK jobs by 2050.

Discussions on wider enabling markets and cost reductions followed, with the overall recommendation of accelerating learning rates, delivering economies of scale, growing supply chains and promoting industry collaboration to establish value for money across the UK CCUS sector. The Government was further urged to provide long-term certainty by confirming its approach to funding allocations and accelerating delivery of comprehensive carbon markets.

The second speaker was Tony McCann from SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency). Tony provided background on the organisation’s regulatory landscape, highlighting that SEPA currently regulates only carbon capture linked to geologic storage, and not its utilisation – this reveals a clear regulatory gap. Tony discussed an amendment to the current regulations aiming to bridge this gap by expanding the definition of capon capture activities to any activity carried on in a technical unit for the capture of carbon dioxide for the purposes of utilisation and storage.

A comparison followed demonstrating the different proposed authorisation levels for the updated regulations, with a discussion on the key differences between the requirements for chemical or physical carbon dioxide capture, and the role SEPA will play in granting permits and registrations.

The third speaker was John Gordon from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. John gave an overview of the Department’s support for CCUS innovation, including the funding of projects to transform carbon dioxide into value added products, and to de-risk carbon capture technology.

John discussed the Department’s aim of advancing the technology readiness levels of CCS projects with the aid of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, including the £20 million CCUS Innovation 2.0 Programme which has funded 19 projects to reduce costs, develop intellectual property, share knowledge, and build skills and capacity across carbon capture, transport, recycling and geological storage. He also discussed support for emerging technologies to capture or use carbon dioxide, including research featuring metal organic frameworks, fertilisers and surfactants.

John concluded by discussing the Department’s vision for UK CCUS looking forward towards 2050, and highlighted the importance of targeting reduced costs, stimulating private sector investment, sharing knowledge, and maintaining the UK’s position as a leader in driving climate action.

The Closing Keynote was provided by Jamie Tarlton from the Climate Change Committee, who provided an overview of the Seventh Carbon Budget. The UK’s carbon budgets set limits on greenhouse gas emissions over set periods, with the seventh budget covering 2038 to 2042. The talk covered sources and required reductions in emissions needed to achieve this budget, and highlighted the clear role of CCS in decarbonising the chemical sector, cements, hydrogen supply, and electricity supply.