Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget has been slammed as a “missed opportunity” for the UK’s carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) sector.
Ruth Herbert, head of the CCS Association (CCSA) said the Chancellor had once again failed to lay out details of his pledge from the 2023 Spring Budget for £1bn a year to be allocated to the industry.
She said: “The UK’s CCUS industry is still waiting for the funding announced in last year’s spring budget to be committed to projects, with final investment decisions for projects in the north-west and north-east of England needed in the next few months.”
“Today’s budget was a missed opportunity for the Government to put in place a longer-term revenue support envelope for the next wave of projects – to provide the level of certainty they need to move forwards.
“Without this, the UK risks losing the opportunity to attract around £30bn of private investment into UK CCUS by 2030, which would create and protect tens of thousands of jobs and transform industrial regions across the UK.”
Last month, CCSA warned that time was running out to deliver on the UK’s carbon storage goals, as lead-in times to deliver such sites stand at around 6-7 years.
The UK aiming to capture and store 20 to 30 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030 and over 50 million tonnes per year by 2035.
The Budget did include measures for the CCS supply chain on a smaller scale.
It included an expansion of the budget for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator Fund (GIGA) by £120m.
Up to £390m of GIGA is “expected to go to supply chains” for CCUS and hydrogen.
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