Decarbonisation Technology May 2026 Issue

Turning early progress into a national industry The CCUS industry is expanding rapidly worldwide. As the Global CCS Institute highlights, the number of operational facilities increased from 50 to 77 in a single year, while the global development pipeline now exceeds 730 projects (Global CCS Institute, 2025). The UK has already taken important steps forward. Carbon capture is now being built, but early projects alone will not create a self- sustaining industry. To maintain momentum, the Delivery Plan is clear that greater policy certainty and faster decision-making are now required, including a clear allocation framework for future projects, markets for low-carbon products and carbon removals, and progress on UK-EU cooperation to unlock cross-border CO₂ storage. “ To maintain momentum, the Delivery Plan is clear that greater policy certainty and faster decision- making are now required ” With these foundations in place, CCUS can move beyond reliance on government support and transition into a competitive, self-sustaining market. In doing so, it has the potential not only to support emissions reduction but to revitalise industrial regions, protect and create skilled jobs, and establish the UK as a leader in a growing global industry. After years of planning, carbon capture is becoming a reality in Britain. The priority now is to ensure these first projects are not an end point, but the starting point for a world- leading CCUS sector that delivers clean growth, industrial resilience and long-term economic value. The choice is straightforward: act now to secure investment and build this industry at home, or risk seeing capital, jobs, and capability flow to the countries that move fastest to lead the global carbon management market. VIEW REFERENCES Olivia Powis info@ccsassociation.org

in unlocking this opportunity, strengthening investment signals, reducing costs, and enabling the development of a fully integrated European carbon management market. Ensuring geography is not a barrier Another priority identified in the Delivery Plan is ensuring that geography does not limit access to carbon capture. Many industrial sites are located far from major pipeline networks. For these projects, alternative transport solutions to pipelines, such as shipping, rail, and road, will play an essential role in enabling captured CO₂ to reach storage sites. The CCSA’s survey shows that 36% of capture projects may require these alternative solutions, particularly those located outside existing industrial clusters. Establishing clear market and regulatory frameworks for CO₂ shipping and transport will therefore be critical to ensuring CCUS deployment can expand across the whole country. Unlocking carbon removals and new markets Emerging carbon markets also present new opportunities for CCUS deployment. Carbon capture enables greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technologies such as bioenergy with carbon capture (BECCS), direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS), and waste- to-energy with CCS. These technologies permanently remove CO 2 from the atmosphere by capturing biogenic carbon and storing it safely underground. Such removals will be essential to delivering what the CCC’s Seventh Carbon Budget indicates is required to meet net zero. The budget anticipates a need for 20.7 MtCO₂ per year of removals by 2040, rising to 32.8 MtCO₂ per year by 2050 – playing a critical role in offsetting residual emissions from hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation and agriculture. More than 28 million tonnes of carbon removal credits have already been sold globally, and the market is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2050. By deploying CCUS alongside GGR, there is a clear opportunity to harness the demand for carbon credits to unlock investment, lower costs, and help transition the sector towards a self-sustaining market.