The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has launched an inquiry on carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and efforts to kickstart this technology in the UK. It has invited written submissions (max 1500 words) to be submitted by 22 June.

Committee chair Rachel Reeves MP, said: “CCUS is expected to play an essential part in meeting the UK’s carbon budgets. Yet the government’s budget to kick-start CCUS has been cut from £1 billlion to £100 million. In this inquiry, we want to test the government’s ambitions in this area and to examine what policy levers need to be pulled to make large-scale CCUS a reality in the future.

“Clearer policy signals are needed if we are to create a market and commercialise this technology into the 2030s. If the government judge the costs are such that CCUS is not a viable option then they must spell out an alternative if the UK is to meet its carbon emission reduction targets.”

The inquiry will examine the government’s commitment to deploying CCUS technology and whether it has a “Plan B” to meet the UK’s climate change targets should desired cost reductions not materialise. The committee set out four key questions:

•How essential is CCUS for the UK to meet its carbon emission reduction targets to 2050?

•How should the Government set targets for cost reduction in CCUS?  How could CCUS costs be usefully benchmarked?

•What would be a realistic level of cost reduction to aim for – and by when?

• If CCUS costs do not come down “sufficiently”, what alternatives should the Government consider to meet the UK’s climate change targets?  How might the cost of these compare with CCUS?

More details on the inquiry home page