The Global CCS Institute explores the rapid growth of carbon capture and storage (CCS) worldwide, highlighting rising project numbers, regional innovation, and global collaboration as key to reaching net-zero climate targets.
Globally, we are at a pivotal moment for the adoption and deployment of carbon capture and storage as countries around the world seek to meet their net-zero emissions and climate targets. CCS has a crucial role to play in helping achieve these ambitions due to its versatility – with commercially available capture technologies currently available for almost any source of carbon dioxide.
This means that CCS can be applied across a broad range of emissions-intensive industries, including electricity generation, cement and steel, fertiliser, chemicals, and hydrogen production. Additionally, CCS can be used to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere when applied with other Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies, such as Direct Air Capture with CCS (DACCS).
At the Global CCS Institute, we have seen momentum for CCS steadily increase over the years.
Global momentum for CCS seen year-on-year
In the Institute’s 2024 Global Status of CCS Report, a 60% year-on-year increase was reported in projects in various stages of development across the CCS value chain. Since the release of this report, there has been a further 15% increase.
The Institute is now tracking 65 CCS facilities in operation with a capacity to capture and store 57 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of carbon dioxide.
Included in the facilities that commenced operations since our last status report are:
- Santos Moomba CCS (Australia)
- China National Energy Ningxia and Xinjiang Jinlong Shenwu (China)
- Eni Casolborsetti Natural Gas Plant and Eni Ravenna Hub (Italy)
- Northern Lights Transport and Storage (Norway)
Building on the momentum, a further 42 facilities are under construction, and some 272 facilities are in advanced development.
Additionally, two new countries in the CCS industry were added to our database – Slovakia and Vietnam.
Regions advancing CCS with fit-for-purpose approaches
In driving CCS deployment and scale-up, countries worldwide are overcoming barriers and advancing large-scale projects with approaches best suited to the needs and resources of their regions.
Globally, we see China emerging as a leader in CCS, driving large-scale projects like the Huaneng Longdong project, which plans to capture 1.5 Mtpa carbon dioxide from local coal-fired power plants. Expected to become operational this year, this will be the world’s largest coal power CCUS project. China is also fostering international research collaborations to accelerate industrial decarbonisation.
Elsewhere in Asia, cross-border CCS projects are accelerating and driving regional development, with carbon dioxide transport and storage networks emerging in these jurisdictions to serve multiple markets. Countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore are actively looking for storage solutions due to limited geological capacity at home. In response, countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, with ample storage resources, are rapidly putting in place the policy and legal frameworks to advance cross-border CCS value chains and markets.
In the Americas, Brazil has forged ahead with milestone CCS legislation, with the “Fuels of the Future Bill” signed into law, and continues to have successful CCS operations at the Petrobras Santos Basin pre-salt reservoirs.
In the United States, stable federal policies and bipartisan support continue to underpin the CCS investment environment, with long-standing programmes like the EPA’s Class VI permitting and 45Q tax credits remaining key drivers of CCS progress across the country.
Looking to the UK and Europe, the business case for CCS continues to be strengthened, having legislated net-zero targets into law, as well as putting into place supportive policies, legal and regulatory frameworks, and funding arrangements. Significant among these are the Net Zero Industry Act, mandating that oil and gas companies producing in the European Union contribute toward the EU-wide target of 50 Mtpa carbon dioxide injection capacity by 2030.
The UK Government has also been supporting the delivery of four CCUS clusters, with a targeted capture capacity of 20-30 Mtpa. In October 2024, funding of £21.7 billion was announced in support of the UK East Coast (Teesside) and West Coast (Hy-Net) clusters.
In the Middle East, countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are positioning themselves as leaders in CCS by establishing large-scale carbon hubs and advancing cross-border projects. Notable initiatives include Saudi Aramco’s goal to expand CCS capacity at Jubail and ADNOC’s development of a CCS network in the UAE.
CCS spurs low-carbon industry development and diversification
On the path to net-zero, the Institute is now seeing a greater diversification of industries where CCS is being applied – particularly in nascent low-carbon product markets.
We are now seeing a surging number of projects in the pipeline for industries such as cement, bioenergy/ethanol and hydrogen/ammonia/fertiliser production.
This further reinforces the versatile role of CCS, not only as a critical tool for emissions abatement, but also as a strategic tool for economic resilience, energy security and maintaining industrial competitiveness in decarbonising markets.
Hydrogen, for example, can play a key role in reaching net-zero, as a carbon-free energy carrier. Low-carbon hydrogen, produced using CCS, can help decarbonise the transport sector and be used for power generation. It can also be used to produce other low-carbon products such as ammonia, urea and fertiliser.
Additionally, as electric power grids incorporate more renewable power sources, the fossil fuel power fleet will remain important for maintaining the resiliency and reliability of grids. Power plants equipped with CCS can supply firm, dispatchable, low-carbon electricity to complement the variable nature of renewables like solar and wind generation.
CCS progress is encouraging, but much work remains
While the progress seen year-on-year with CCS projects is encouraging, achieving global climate goals will require annual carbon dioxide capture and storage rates to reach approximately 1 gigatonne per annum by 2030. Currently the capture capacity of operational CCS projects stands at 57 Mtpa – so there is much work still to do.
The deployment of CCS faces many challenges; however, the business case for CCS remains key. Not all jurisdictions have established the strong and supportive policy and regulatory frameworks necessary to create a robust business case for CCS. More progress is needed on government climate policies and carbon markets to facilitate an investable and scalable CCS business case.
At the Institute, we stress the need for robust, supportive policies from governments that provide clear guidelines and incentives for CCS implementation. A comprehensive policy framework should include mechanisms to assign a value to carbon emission reductions, for example, through a carbon tax, carbon trading or tax credits.
Additionally, a combination of incentives and regulations is needed to encourage investment. Without these measures, the private sector will not deploy CCS at the scale required to meet climate change mitigation targets.
Investment challenges, such as political uncertainty and inflation-driven cost increases, further complicate matters. As countries go through inflationary periods, similar to cost increases seen in consumer goods, many large infrastructure projects, including CCS, experience cost increases.
Other important factors in the successful deployment of CCS are societal considerations, particularly as public perception and acceptance of CCS can be varied. Engagement with affected stakeholders, including local communities, should be an integral part of all projects from the outset.
Global collaboration key to CCS success
Progressing CCS at the necessary scale and speed cannot be done in isolation. The value of CCS is globally recognised – and global collaboration is essential to move us forward.
As a starting point, we have decades of research and lessons learned from operating projects to draw on. Knowledge that, when shared, can dramatically shorten the deployment window in emerging CCS regions.
Building on this, there are several collaborative platforms around the world, including the Asia CCUS Network, the Carbon Management Challenge, the Clean Energy Ministerial, and Mission Innovation. These are proving incredibly useful in driving ambition and sharing knowledge.
Beyond that, a number of bilateral agreements, which are particularly important for the development of cross-border value chains, are being put in place, highlighting an acceleration in intergovernmental collaboration. The Institute has identified over 50 bilateral agreements or MoUs executed by national governments since 2020 that include CCS within their scope.
There are also many strong examples of public-private partnerships to develop CCS facilities emerging in all jurisdictions.
By continuing to foster and build on these collaborative efforts, we can rise to the challenge of this pivotal moment for carbon capture and storage and its role in achieving global net-zero emissions and climate targets.
About the Global CCS Institute
The Global CCS Institute is an international think tank whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage, a vital technology to tackle climate change and deliver climate neutrality. Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, the Institute has offices in Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Brussels, London, Tokyo and Washington DC. https://www.globalccsinstitute.com
