Recommendation 5

To date, the Department has done little to ensure that government support for CCUS is directed to the sectors or locations where it will be essential for achieving net zero. CCUS is currently seen as the only way to decarbonise certain industries. For example, it is estimated that 60–70% 6 of carbon emissions from the cement industry comes from chemical reactions. The government sees CCUS at the only means to prevent these from being released into the atmosphere. Projects producing energy from waste are also reliant on CCUS due to the lack of alternate green energy sources. Other applications for CCUS capture carbon from the burning of fuels and there can be alternative methods to decarbonise these processes (for example, through electrification). However, the Department’s current cluster–based approach focuses on supporting carbon capture projects that are located close to one another. While this makes sense in terms of maximising the use of infrastructure such as pipelines, it does not ensure that financial support for CCUS is directed at the sectors which will need it most. The Department has not decided how it will support the use of CCUS at sites outside of industrial clusters, known as dispersed sites. recommendation The Department should set out its rationale for supporting CCUS in each sector where it could be applied, including considering whether alternative approaches could be more cost effective.