Economic Report 2020

Helping to lower the emissions of the wider economy

The Climate Change Committee has reinforced that large-scale deployment of CCUS and hydrogen will be instrumental in achieving a net zero outcome. 44 By 2050, it is estimated that up to 175 mtCO 2 will need to be captured and stored each year – the equivalent of half of CO 2 emissions in 2019. Along with this, hydrogen consumption will need to increase to around 250TWh per year – the equivalent of around 30 per cent of current gas consumption. Reaching this level of capacity will take time and significant investment across several projects.

There are currently five large-scale industrial cluster projects in early-stage development across the UK incorporating CCUS and hydrogen production: • Acorn

• Teesside • Humber • NE England • South Wales

Combined, the initial stages of these projects have the potential to make a significant contribution to the ambition for 50 TWh of hydrogen production and the storage of 10 mtCO 2 per year by 2030.

44 https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/net-zero-the-uks-contribution-to-stopping-global-warming/

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