Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Set out urgent new carbon capture targets and clarify how to address net zero shortfall
Recommendation
The Department has downgraded its ambitions for the CCUS programme, stating that the original 2030 ambitions are no longer achievable. The current CCUS programme is the government’s third attempt to introduce the technology. Compared with previous attempts, the government is now more reliant on CCUS succeeding as it sees the technology as essential to achieving net zero by 2050. But over the course of the CCUS programme’s development, the Department has reduced its expectations of the carbon that will be captured and stored by the first wave of projects, known as Track 1. Its progress has also been slower than planned: the government recently agreed financial terms with two projects in the East Coast Cluster, around two years later than scheduled. In December 2024, the Department concluded that its target to capture 20 to 30 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030 will not be met. It has yet to announce revised targets for the programme. The 2030 ambitions for the CCUS programme were aligned with the government’s pathway for meeting the decarbonisation goals for Carbon Budget 6 (2033–2037). As these targets have now been abandoned, it is not clear by what alternative means government will meet these legally binding goals. 7 recommendation a. The Department should set out, as a matter of urgency, new targets for how much carbon it intends to capture through its CCUS programme and by when, and make clear how it will make up the shortfall created in its overall net zero pathway. b. The Department should consider how it will monitor and report on the performance of CCUS projects in relation to the amount of net carbon captured. 8 1 Protecting taxpayers and consumers interests Introduction
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and outlines its plan to monitor and report on net carbon captured by CCUS projects once operations begin, detailing obligations for Transport & Storage Companies and capture projects to report capture rates, storage performance, and leakage to relevant regulators. It has also established a Cluster Sponsor Function for performance oversight.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. amount of net carbon captured will commence when the CCUS networks begin operations. The government has built in obligations on the Transport & Storage Companies (T&Scos) and capture projects to report carbon capture, storage and flow rates from the start of the operations. Capture projects will regularly report rates of carbon capture to the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC). T&SCos will report storage site performance, including any leakage or venting of carbon dioxide, to both the Economic Regulator and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) as a condition of the Economic Licence and Storage Permit respectively. Both the T&SCos and capture projects will be required to report any leakages or venting to the relevant UK Emissions Trading Scheme regulator. The department has established a Cluster Sponsor Function to maintain a cluster-wide perspective of the performance of CCUS projects throughout their lifespan, including net carbon captured and stored. It has established data sharing and ways of working agreements with the economic regulator, LCCC and relevant regulators to ensure it has access to carbon capture data reported via the economic licence, CCUS contracts, storage permits and other regulatory obligations.