Tackling climate change requires global action and every country needs to play its part. For the UK this will mean a transformation in the way we generate and use energy – a long-term transition to secure, affordable, low carbon energy on the way to an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has the potential to be one of the most cost effective technologies for decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors, as well as those of economies worldwide.
The Government is committed to helping make CCS a viable option for reducing emissions in the UK, and in doing so to accelerate the potential for CCS to be deployed in other countries. Our vision is for a sustainable CCS industry with wide-spread deployment of cost-competitive CCS - tens of GWs of installed capacity in the power sector and capture of substantial volumes of emissions from industrial applications.
We have therefore launched our CCS Roadmap, which sets out the strategic context for the Government’s interventions to support the development and deployment of cost competitive CCS and the steps being taken to achieve this outcome. We have also commissioned a report which analyses the scope for cost reduction by fuel/technology and components for CCS, which we will be publishing shortly, and have asked the CCS Association to establish a Cost Reduction Task Force led by industry
The Roadmap consists of a strategy document, an action plan and a series of supporting documents which give more detail on specific aspects of the Government’s CCS Programme. The Roadmap is intended to generate debate, be revised regularly and inform the Government’s dialogue with industry on the actions taken to deliver cost competitive CCS. Progress will be reviewed through the CCS Development Forum and the Roadmap and action plan will be updated as appropriate.