Written Statement: Publication of Consultation on Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) WG50921 (2 December 2024)

We are today publishing our consultation on Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS). CCUS is an important technology in our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we are very conscious that its use must be appropriately targeted, and that it is not treated as a pathway to the continued use of fossil fuels.

To that end we have developed a proposed policy on CCUS, building on the statement to Senedd on 15 October 2024. We continue to believe that avoiding the generation of greenhouse gas emissions in the first place is better than capturing and storing them. However, we recognise that the urgency of reducing emissions to atmosphere, combined with the need for a just transition for industry and workers, and the need for reliable energy supplies for industry and consumers, mean that all options for emissions reduction must remain on the table. Our proposed policy sets out an approach to decarbonisation that will guide us as a society towards adopting the most sustainable solutions. Where methods of decarbonisation and emissions reduction that do not involve the generation of greenhouse gases are available, then they should be used. Where such methods are not available, then CCUS can be used to minimise emissions to atmosphere, as long as it is part of a longer-term transition to the elimination of emissions.

I invite interested parties in our industries, our universities, other public and private sector bodies, and the general public, to take part in our consultation on this important topic, and help shape the future of emissions reduction in Wales and secure a just transition.