Thursday 15 August 2024

‘Significant work is required to meet CCUS targets’

Investment bank DAI Magister suggests that current carbon capture projects are falling short of targets

International investment bank DAI Magister suggests that carbon sequestration and utilisation projects are falling short of global targets.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), there are currently around 46 commercial carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facilities in operation globally.

Moreover, there are more than 700 projects in various stages of development across the CCUS value chain, with around 90 projects planned for the UK.

However, despite extensive efforts to scale up CCUS projects, significant work is required to meet both global targets and the UK's target of 75-180 million tonnes of CO2 saved per year by 2050.

At the current rate of development, global carbon capture capacity is projected to reach 435 million tonnes per year and storage capacity 615 million tonnes per year by 2030 — only 40% and 60%, respectively, of the levels needed to achieve net zero by 2050.

Adam Aziz, Analyst at DAI Magister said: 'The carbon value chain presents immense opportunities for innovative project developers and technology providers who can enable a broad range of utilisation use cases. From mineralisation and synthetic fuels to biological conversion processes, the field of carbon utilisation is ripe with potential for ground-breaking technologies and applications.

'However, like the upstream part of the value chain, robust regulatory frameworks and pricing mechanisms are essential, to stimulate the development and deployment of these technologies at scale in the coming years.'