Ahead of the first evidence session on Tuesday morning,
the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Committee is publishing 51 written
evidence submissions for its inquiry on carbon
capture, usage and storage (CCUS), received from business
organisations, local authorities, academics and others [full list
attached; submissions going live on the Committee’s website at around
9am this morning].
On Tuesday 6 November (at 12.30), the
Committee begins its CCUS inquiry with a hearing including
witnesses from the carbon capture and storage, chemicals, and
energy industries.
The session on Tuesday is likely to examine the importance of
CCUS in meeting UK carbon emission reductions targets, issues
around reducing the costs of CCUS, the industrial challenges and
opportunities around CCUS, and what steps the Government should
take to follow up on the CCUS Cost Challenge Taskforce
report.
Speaking ahead of the hearing, MP, Chair of the Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee,
said: “Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) is
expected to play an essential part in meeting the UK’s carbon
budgets. The written evidence we’ve received for this inquiry
confirms this view, that CCCUS is vital in meeting the UK’s 2050
targets. In this inquiry we want to examine the content and
extent of the Government’s ambitions for CCUS and explore what
policy levers are needed to ensure large-scale use of CCUS
becomes a reality. Clear policy signals will be crucial in
creating a market in CCUS into the 2030s and, if the Government
judges the costs are too high to make CCUS viable, then it they
really must set out a workable alternative as the UK seeks to
meet its carbon emissions targets”.
The BEIS Committee’s inquiry is examining the Government’s
commitment to deploying CCUS technology and whether it has a
“Plan B” to meet the UK’s climate change targets should desired
cost reductions not materialise. This short-inquiry is expected
to conclude with a final Ministerial evidence session later in
November.
Additionally, POST (Parliamentary Office of Science
and Technology) has published a politically
impartial report on
Carbon Capture and Usage (CCU). This analysis,
published on Friday, is the first UK Parliament report on this
topic and presents the most promising CCU processes and
technologies. It also reviews concerns around their profitability
and capacity to mitigate climate change from leading climate
analysts, such as the Committee on Climate Change and the Royal
Society.
Witness schedule - Capture, usage and storage (CCUS)
inquiry
Tuesday 6 November, 12.30 (Venue: The Thatcher Room Portcullis
House)
- Luke
Warren, CEO, Carbon Capture and Storage Association
- Professor
Stuart Haszeldine, Director, Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage
- Kristofer
Hetland, Senior Adviser, Project Management, Equinor
- Nick
Sturgeon, Energy and Competitiveness Director, Chemicals Industry
Association
The session will be broadcast live and on demand on Parliament TV.
ENDS
The BEIS Committee’s inquiry on carbon capture follows earlier
Committee work on the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy. The
Clean Growth Strategy sets out the Government’s aim to “deploy
CCUS at scale during the 2030s, subject to costs coming down
sufficiently”. The Government has established
a CCUS Cost Challenge
Taskforce to explore options to bring forward cost
reductions, which will report in summer 2018.
Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) is a set of technologies
which can together capture carbon dioxide from waste gases, and
either ‘lock up’ this carbon dioxide in long-term storage or use
it in industrial processes.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) – here the
captured carbon dioxide is transported (by ship or pipeline) for
long term storage in geological formations; the UK has a large
number of potential offshore storage sites, particularly in the
North Sea.
Carbon capture and use (CCU) – this makes
use of the captured carbon in industrial processes, for example
in enhanced oil recovery or the manufacture of chemicals and
building materials.
