Context for UK CCS Research and Development

The overriding driver for research and development of CCS in the UK is the Climate Change Act 2008, which adopted a target of 80% reduction in UK GHG emissions by 2050 compared to a 1990 baseline. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has been charged with recommending five-yearly national carbon budgets to deliver this target and examining ways these can be achieved. The CCC has identified CCS as one of the technologies that are likely to be used to decarbonise UK electricity production, with a target of specific emissions of ~100gCO₂/kWh by 2030, and much lower by 2050. Low-carbon electricity production then rises after 2030 as it used to decarbonise other sectors, The CCC has also strongly advocated the use of biomass with CCS to achieve negative CO₂ emissions, stating "It will be difficult to meet the overall 2050 emissions target unless bioenergy can account for around 10% of total UK primary energy (compared to the current 2%) and CCS is a feasible technology".

Committee on Climate Change – declining carbon intensity and increasing use of electricity to 2050.

In order to fund this electricity sector decarbonisation the UK is currently engaged in a process of Electricity Market Reform (EMR) with the stated objective at launch of "keeping the lights on in the cheapest, cleanest way... A new generation of power sources including renewables, new nuclear, and carbon capture and storage, along with new gas plants to provide flexibility and back-up capacity, will secure our electricity supply as well as bring new jobs and new expertise to the UK economy".

Despite uncertainties, there are potentially large benefits to be gained for the UK if CCS can be successfully implemented, and hence strong drivers for Government-supported action. A key objective for UK Government is to achieve the cost-effective deployment of CCS for low carbon electricity generation in the 2020s. This will be pursued through a CCS demonstration programme and a range of other supporting actions. For further details see the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) website.

DECC plans also include the possible integration of industrial CCS in CO₂ pipeline clusters, combined with power applications. Industrial CCS on carbon-intensive processes has been identified by the CCC as a key to reducing residual societal emissions as part of achieving 2050 targets, as well as offsetting using biomass with CCS to give negative emissions.

Additionally, CCS is a key part of the EU Energy Roadmap 2050, published in December 2011. It states that "CCS, if commercialised, will have to contribute significantly in most scenarios with a particularly strong role of up to 32% in power generation in the case of constrained nuclear production and shares between 19 to 24% in other scenarios with the exception of the High RES [renewable energy supply] scenario".

In the IEA 2011 World Energy Outlook CCS is also expected to make the largest contribution in additional energy supply measures to reduce global CO₂ emissions to safe levels. The IEA states that "intensive investment and effort to demonstrate the commercial viability of CCS is the rational course of action for governments seriously intent on restricting the average global temperature rise to no more than 2°C. Successful demonstration will need to be followed by equally rapid and widespread deployment".

Global CO₂ emissions abatement in the IEA 450 Scenario.