Members of NECCUS, the industrial decarbonisation alliance for Scotland, have delivered a letter to the Chancellor to share our united message on the urgency of supporting industrial decarbonisation in Scotland.
NECCUS Members are concerned that carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Scotland is not being given the support that is required to deliver the decarbonisation of industry on the pathway to net zero by 2045. There is also a significant risk that a just transition will not be realised – as a result of deindustrialisation instead of decarbonisation.
We welcome the statement from Scottish Government that the Acorn T&S project is essential to delivering industrial decarbonisation in Scotland, and that in the Programme for Government 2025-26 they continue their commitment of £80M to support this CCS project, and are willing to increase it, subject to investment from UK Government enabling the project to progress.
Scotland has an important role to play in the decarbonisation of the UK as a whole, with Scottish assets key to delivering commitments to Clean Power 2030, Net Zero and other targets across the economy, including low carbon housing and infrastructure projects. These ambitions can only be achieved with the production of low-carbon cement, sustainable fuels, blue hydrogen and dispatchable power – which all require CCS.
CCS is vital to secure existing jobs and offers a huge opportunity for Scotland to win inward investment. In 2023, a Biggar Economics report commissioned by the Scottish Cluster predicted the potential for a £17.7Bn contribution to UK economic output (GVA) to 2050; 10,800 development and construction jobs and 4,700 operational jobs across the UK; and, very importantly, the retention and safe- guarding of 18,800 jobs (across the UK) that might otherwise be lost. The recently completed Project Willow feasibility study, co-funded by UK Government and Scottish Government, highlights the development of around 1000 new operational jobs for the technologies that could be deployed at Grangemouth – for many of which CCS is necessary.
In 2023, NECCUS delivered Scotland’s Net Zero Roadmap (SNZR), funded by Innovate UK as part of the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, which demonstrated the pathways to decarbonisation for 28 of Scotland’s largest emitters across 11 industrial sectors – CCS is core to achieving Net Zero by 2045. Since SNZR was commissioned, we have already seen the closure of Arjowiggins Stoneywood paper mill with the loss of around 500 jobs, the changes at the Petroineos oil refinery resulting in the loss of 430 jobs, and job losses at Fujifilm. In addition, one of the partners in the Acorn T&S project, Harbour Energy, expects to cut 250 jobs in Aberdeen.
There are a number of tools in the toolbox that support the delivery of net zero targets, and the UK Climate Change Committee recognises in its advice to UK Government in the 7th Carbon Budget that carbon capture and storage is vital to delivering net zero. We agree that we need to use the right solution in the right place, and it is essential to develop CCS in Scotland.
Letter signatories:
Philippa Parmiter, NECCUS
David Sheldrake, VWS Westgarth
Professor Andreas Busch, Heriot-Watt University
Maggie McGinlay, ETZ Ltd
Professor Florian Doster, Heriot-Watt University
Keith Mackie, Peterhead Port Authority
Luca Corradi, Net Zero Technology Centre
Rahul Dhar, Santane Engineering
Jordan Ferguson, Pier Solutions (international) Ltd
Professor Stuart Haszeldine, University of Edinburgh
Martin Welsh, Booth Welsh
Ryan Bell, Glacier Energy
Tim Hare, DNV
Steven Marcos Jones, OPITO
Luke Crossland, KOSO KentIntrol
Malgorzata Moussa, ABB Limited
Clive Sirju, CNOOC
Professor Eric Mackay, Heriot-Watt University
Marcus Hunt, SGN