A debate about where and how carbon capture and storage (CCS) can play a role in the UK’s energy future. The prime minister and politicians from across the political spectrum have argued that CCS is likely to be essential to mitigating climate change, and the technology features strongly in most decarbonisation pathways, from the International Energy Agency’s two degrees scenario to the European Union’s 2050 energy roadmap.

Yet anti-CCS protests at the recent Lima climate conference demonstrate that it remains unpopular. On the ground, progress on UK CCS deployment has been desperately slow. To ensure the technology is available to decarbonise both power and UK industry, the next parliament will need to commission both CCS pilots and enable second-round projects.

To coincide with the event, Green Alliance launched a short analysis that outlines the opportunity to capture industrial CO2 in the Yorkshire and Humber area, the potential cost savings that might arise from ‘clustering’ across industry and power, and the policy options which could be used to deliver clusters.