Photo by: Bloomberg
The Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) on Wednesday welcomed the launch by the Teesside Collective – a cluster of industries in the UK – of a plan to develop Europe’s first industrial carbon capture and storage (CCS) cluster in the Tees Valley.
The plan comprised two phases; the first of which would involve the capture and storage of 2.8-million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year by 2024 – helping to maintain almost 6 000 jobs.
The second phase would increase capacity to capture and store up to 15-million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2035, creating an additional 2 600 jobs.
CCSA CE Dr Luke Warren commented that Wednesday’s launch was particularly timely, given that the UK Committee on Climate Change recently released its 2015 Progress Report to Parliament.
“The report emphasises the importance of developing CO2 transport and storage infrastructure to support CCS in both power and industrial sectors and includes a recommendation on the need to develop policy to commercialise industrial CCS.
“For energy intensive industries such as steel, cement and chemicals, CCS is the only option that can enable deep cuts in emissions. It is, therefore, a vital technology to maintain the future competitiveness of these important industries, while helping to safeguard tens of thousands of jobs,” he stated.