Our recommendations for UK policymakers on how to avoid wasting billions of taxpayers’ money without substantially decreasing emissions.

The British government has made carbon capture a top priority, announcing a £22 billion investment to support a capture capacity of 8.5 million tonnes of CO₂ (MtonCO₂). However, this falls well short of the target, which aims to capture between 20-30 MtonCO₂ by 2030.  

While we recognise that CCUS can play a role in the UK’s energy transition, we believe that it is time for a reality check. The current CCUS strategy needs to be urgently reviewed to address key flaws that risk wasting taxpayers’ money on high-risk, expensive, polluting and non-futureproof technologies. 

This new policymaker brief on CCUS integrates the findings of our recent reports on this theme: “Curb your Enthusiasm”, “Kind of Blue” and “The real emissions of Peterhead-CCS” (upcoming). 

Our evidence-based recommendations focus on three key areas: strategy and targets, gas lock-in and carbon markets. We found that without policy action in these three key areas, the UK’s net-zero targets, which are already off track, will be further at risk. 

As a recent Guardian investigation revealed, the British government has primarily engaged with the oil and gas industry and CCS lobby on CCUS, with limited input from independent, climate-focused organizations. Given the high stakes, we believe it’s crucial to seek diverse, independent advice, and we would be happy to contribute with our research to fill this gap.