Momentum is building in CCS

Momentum in UK Carbon Capture - my key insights from this year’s Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage Conference

I recently had the opportunity to attend the CCUS 2025 Conference, hosted annually by the CCSA (Carbon Capture & Storage Association), alongside members of the Viridor CCS team.  This event brings together stakeholders from across the sector to share knowledge, reflect on challenges and celebrate the year’s achievements. I was really encouraged by the fact that success stories took centre stage this year and having joined Viridor in the CCS team working on Carbon Dioxide Removal Credit strategies, for me personally, this conference was a really motivating as well as informative experience. 

Before diving into the takeaways from the conference, I would like to quickly give an overview of what CCUS is - Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) encompasses technologies that remove CO₂ from industrial processes such as fossil-fuel power generation, cement manufacturing and Energy from Waste (EfW). 

Once captured, this CO₂ can be repurposed to create products like synthetic fuels, fertilisers and building aggregates, or transported for long-term geological storage in depleted oil and gas fields or saline reservoirs. By stopping CO₂ from entering the atmosphere, CCUS plays a vital role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change.

Take a look at this simple process diagram below: 

For a more detailed view of the CCS process click HERE. 

For Viridor, CCUS presents a technological pathway to reducing emissions from our hard-to-abate EfW sites and its deployment underpins our commitment to becoming a climate positive business by 2045.

A major theme at this year’s conference was the clear momentum driving the UK CCUS sector forward. Five CCUS projects have now been approved to begin construction, including the flagship Waste-to-Energy with CCS (WECCS) Protos project, while the government has committed £21 billion to the sector, with an additional £9 billion anticipated in the spring budget. This progress is further reinforced by the first privately funded North Sea transport & storage trial and a growing wave of private-sector collaboration to develop transport & storage clusters.

As our CCUS Development Manager, Angus Edmondson, put it:

“The CCSA conference is always the biggest in the calendar and it was great this year to have a real focus on the UK’s progress in light of the significant milestones taken this year, particularly on Track 1 Final Investment Decisions, with a real desire to keep the industry rolling off the back of this momentum. What was particularly positive from my perspective was the number of interested parties reaching out for conversations with the Viridor representatives, which is testament to the hard work and credibility that the team have nurtured through the development of the Carbon Capture projects to date.”

The Energy from Waste sector featured prominently at the conference, with clear recognition that CCS is essential to decarbonising EfW and achieving net zero. During the Scaling up CCUS in the Energy from Waste Sector panel, where our CCUS Director James Eyton spoke alongside representatives from Cory Group and the North London Waste Authority, he summarised why EfW stands out as one of the UK’s strongest CCS opportunities:

“Energy-from-Waste is clearly shining through as one of the most compelling opportunities for CCS deployment in the UK for three key reasons: first, it brings in new revenue from sale of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) credits, reducing the subsidy ask; second, it provides a reliable, 24/7/365 baseload source of CO₂ emissions which transporters and storers need to invest confidently in their infrastructure; and third, the waste industry provides long-term security, this sector commonly has long-term feedstock contracts, and the need for Energy-from-Waste is here for the long term. It is great to see the momentum pick up not only for the CCUS sector, but also more directly for Energy-from-Waste and for WECCS projects.”

Held at the QEII Centre against the backdrop of Westminster, this year’s conference highlighted how crucial policy, regulation and targeted government support remain in driving progress. The Climate Change Committee, drawing on the newly published Seventh Carbon Budget, reinforced the central role CCS will play in meeting the UK’s 2050 net-zero target, with capture rates expected to exceed 70 Mt CO₂ per year by mid-century, around a 14% abatement compared to business-as-usual. But the message from government went further, as Minister Shanks emphasised, CCUS is not only a climate solution but also a major economic opportunity. By deploying CCUS across industrial and energy infrastructure, and by reusing existing oil & gas assets for CO₂ storage, the UK can prevent carbon leakage, safeguard jobs in hard-to-abate sectors and create thousands of new roles across carbon capture, transport and storage. The result is not just decarbonisation but the revitalisation of regional economies.

So, my takeaway is that the UK’s carbon capture landscape is gaining serious traction.

For Viridor, it reaffirmed the vital role CCS will play in delivering on the environmental commitments at the heart of our ESG strategy while supporting local economies and the wider green economy.

Momentum is here, and I for one am ready to keep it going!