Carbon capture and storage in the UK: Deployment requirements and risks

The UK’s pathway to Net Zero by 2050 is critically dependent on the large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. Despite strong political commitments and significant funding pledges, no operational CCS facilities currently exist in the UK, and global experience shows high project failure rates. This raises the central question: can CCS be deployed at sufficient scale and pace to meet national climate targets? This report evaluates current UK CCS plans against the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) projections of required capacity, using project pipeline and historical failure rate data, and extrapolates planned capacity growth to 2050 under varying assumptions of project success and failure. Results show that while planned projects could deliver 5–10 MtCO₂ annually by 2030, this falls short of the CCC’s requirement of 13 MtCO₂. Even under optimistic assumptions, deployment would require compound annual growth rates of up to 75% in early years. Historical failure rates of 82% suggest that without significant improvements, UK CCS capacity could reach only one-third of required levels by 2050. The report recommends sustained political and financial support, the prioritisation of CCS in sectors without viable alternatives, integration of Carbon Removal Obligations into regulation, and flexible industrial cluster decarbonisation strategies. Public acceptance and ethical governance are also essential to ensure CCS complements, rather than displaces, near-term emissions reductions, mitigating risks of mitigation deterrence and stranded assets.