UKCCSRC Spring 2025 Conference – Welcomes & Opening Keynote (ECR Meeting Fund)

Billy Davies (Brunel University of London), Gregory Mwenketishi (University Of Bradford), Ikemefuna Collins Nwanze (University of Wolverhampton) and Hassan Chamas (Brunel University of London) share their takeaways from the “Welcomes & Opening Keynote” session at the UKCCSRC Spring 2025 Conference.

Fàilte gu Alba and what a warm welcome it was that the sun was shining on Glasgow (surprising we know)!  On such a beautiful day of course the best thing to do is to talk all about carbon capture, utilisation, storage and, last but not least, the silent T (transportation).

First up was Prof Jon Gibbins, UKCCSRC Director, giving a warm welcome to the Conference being hosted by the University of Strathclyde. Then, to welcome us to the University of Strathclyde and the city of Glasgow was Prof Julia Race, Academic Vice Dean in the Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering Department. She gave an excellent welcome to Scotland, talking about the abundance of mountains and the abundance of her favourite courses (golf), as well as discussing Glasgow’s proud history especially within ship building on the River Clyde.

The University of Strathclyde has a rich and proud history in Glasgow, being founded in 1798 by John Anderson, which makes it the 8^th oldest higher education institution in the UK, and was extremely progressive for the time. The main reason for the development of this institution is that John Anderson wanted a “place of useful learning”, with that statement still playing a key role in the university’s vision today! The university has seven core research themes and one of these is the Centre for Energy Policy, in which there is a big focus on carbon capture, storage and transportation (CCST), including the development of new technologies alongside focusing on the economics and policy decisions around the development of CCST for industrial use.

Next up was Jeremy Carey, current chair of the UKCCSRC Board, introducing the future chair of the UKCCSRC board, Bryony Livesey.  Bryony discussed their previous work as Director of the Industrial Decarbonisation Centre at UKRI. At the IDC £210 million in public funding was provided to develop an industrial decarbonisation strategy via the cluster plan, derisking projects, supporting development of interconnected infrastructure as well as money for innovation and research. This project has been very successful with over £900 million of co-investment from other partners currently and by 2030 up to £22 billion will have been invested into industrial decarbonisation, extremely positive signs considering previous history of industrial decarbonisation projects within the UK. By 2030, 14 million tonnes of CO₂ should be captured and stored, and 1.3 GW of low-carbon blue hydrogen production. The next steps for this are to ensure that the Track 1 projects have spades in the ground and by 2040 to have five net-zero industrial clusters. Furthermore, it’s to further support and advance cutting-edge research within industrial decarbonisation and development of knowledge sharing approaches across clusters so best practices can be learnt.

So, an excellent welcome to the country of Scotland, the city of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde and to the UKCCSRC Spring Conference! This welcome was very much one of hope, despite past experiences of industrial decarbonisation not going ahead, and this current development of low-carbon industrial clusters is extremely exciting for ECRs like ourselves. With final investment decisions being made for the Northern Endurance Partnership and Net Zero Teesside Power, it is now a case of putting spades in the ground and building capture, storage and transportation facilities and networks to ensure that CO₂ can be captured and stored on large scales! Whenever at UKCCSRC conferences, a quote by Isaac Newton comes to mind, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. The work John, Julia, Jeremy and Bryony have done within their careers to ensure industrial decarbonisation becomes a reality is fantastic, and it is up to us ECRs to continue this legacy!