Blog: Carbon capture, utilisation and storage is no longer a future technology. What happens next?

CCUS is not optional

Across every credible Net Zero pathway, from NESO's future energy scenarios to the Climate Change Committee's advice, CCUS features as essential infrastructure, not a nice-to-have.

As Mark explained: "There is no scenario to get to net zero that doesn't include some aspect of CCUS."

He set out three reasons why. First, CCUS decarbonises industrial sectors, including cement, chemicals and steel, where electrification isn't a realistic option, protecting foundational UK industries and jobs. Second, it delivers dispatchable power, complementing renewables with the baseload and responsive generation the system still needs. Third, it enables greenhouse gas removals, actively taking carbon out of the atmosphere via biomass, energy-from-waste and biomethane plants, removals that UK targets already assume will happen.

From policy to construction

The CCUS sector is moving from planning into delivery with five projects under construction across the UK. These projects include HyNet and Northern Endurance Partnership, spanning across both transport and storage networks. Capture projects currently underway include Heidelberg, Encyclis and Net Zero Teeside with a focus on cement, energy-from-waste and gas power industries. This demonstrates the breadth of CCUS and how it’s being advanced.

Mark noted the tangible benefits already flowing from this: "We've already seen £4 billion worth of supply contracts awarded, and over 5,000 jobs being created within the construction industry."

But he was clear that momentum now needs to translate into a durable market: "We need to be creating a market that is self-sustaining… so we can start to reduce the reliance on government support."

Lessons from Europe

Comparing progress across the continent, Mark highlighted that the UK and Europe have taken different routes to building out CCUS. The UK adopted a "cluster sequencing approach," developing capture, transport and storage together, while several European countries, including Norway, progressed capture or storage separately before connecting them.

That's allowed some European projects to move faster. Norway's Northern Lights is already an operational, open-access CO₂ store. But Mark argued the UK's integrated approach has generated valuable lessons of its own: "A lot of what we're doing now is talking both within Europe and internationally about what are the lessons learned in the UK."

Will costs come down?

Asked whether CCUS could follow the same cost curve as renewables and hydrogen, Mark was cautious but optimistic. Technology innovation will help, but he pointed to confidence and track record as the bigger near-term lever: "Possibly the bigger, or more immediate, cost reductions come from things like confidence around contracting arrangements… and operational data that we receive from projects, demonstrating that this is working."

Reusing gas infrastructure and skills

A recurring theme was how much of the CCUS build-out relies on existing oil and gas expertise and infrastructure. Mark noted that many CCSA members developing transport and storage are already skilled in offshore platforms, pipelines and storage, knowledge now being redirected into CCUS.

Projects like Acorn in Scotland are exploring how existing gas networks could be reused for CO₂ transport, while CCUS also underpins the low-carbon gas transition more broadly, enabling blue hydrogen production and capturing high-purity CO₂ from biomethane plants to create verified carbon removals.

Why data matters

With Xoserve's core role as a central data service provider for the gas sector, the conversation turned to why trusted data will be just as critical for CCUS as it has been for gas.

Mark was direct: "Any data that's involved in the transport of any gas is going to be the same for CCUS." From measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems to safely tracking CO₂ volumes from capture plant to store, whether by pipeline, truck, boat or train, good data underpins safety, trust and efficiency across the whole value chain.

What's needed from the 2027 Spending Review

 Looking ahead, Mark set out a clear policy ask: continued government commitment to unlocking the next wave of projects and clusters, including Viking CCS, Acorn, Peak Cluster, Bacton, Poseidon, Ervia Seven CO₂ and projects around Shetland. Alongside this, he called for non-fiscal support to develop new revenue markets, such as greenhouse gas removal trading and cross-border CO₂ transport and storage exports, given the UK holds over a third of Europe's CO₂ storage potential.

A closing thought

This episode of DecarbDiscussions highlights a clear takeaway: the UK's first CCUS projects are no longer theoretical. They are in the ground, creating jobs and supply chains today. The next challenge is sustaining that momentum, building a market that can eventually stand on its own, and ensuring the gas sector's infrastructure, skills and data systems evolve to support it.

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