Carbon capture, utilisation and storage

There are around 35 commercial facilities applying CCUS to industrial processes, fuel transformation and power generation, with a total annual capture capacity of almost 45 Mt CO2. CCUS deployment has been behind expectations in the past but momentum has grown substantially in recent years, with around 300 projects in various stages of development across the CCUS value chain.

Project developers have announced ambitions for over 200 new capture facilities to be operating by 2030, capturing over 220 Mt CO2 per year. However, only around 10 commercial capture projects under development have taken FID as of June 2022. Nevertheless, even at such level, CCUS deployment would remain substantially below what is required in the Net Zero Scenario.

Around 230 Mt of CO2 are currently used each year, mainly in direct use pathways in the fertiliser industry for urea manufacturing (~130 Mt) and for enhanced oil recovery (~80 Mt). New utilisation pathways in the production of CO2-based synthetic fuels, chemicals and building aggregates are gaining momentum.

CO2 use does not necessarily lead to emissions reduction. Climate benefits associated with a given CO2 use depend on the source of the CO2 (natural, fossil, biogenic or air-captured), the product or service the CO2-based product is displacing, the carbon intensity of the energy used for the conversion process, how long the CO2 is retained in the product, and the scale of the market for this particular use. The use of low-carbon energy is particularly critical for CO2 use in fuels and chemical intermediates, as these processes are highly energy-intensive.