Building a CCUS Research Landscape for the UK and India

Client

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and India Department of Science and Technology (DST)

Challenge

UKRI and DST had wished to have a better view of the UK and India existing research and capability landscape in the area of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) to identify areas of mutual interest for potential collaboration.

Solution

CLT had carried out, in collaboration with the Climate Collective Fund (CCF), a study to create a landscape of the CCUS sector in both the UK and India, focusing on existing research and capabilities. The project was mainly conducted through desktop research, but it also included interviews with subject matter experts in the UK and Indian sectors.

To build an understanding of the existing research capabilities, the top universities, institutions and research networks were identified, as well as the main research areas, technology development stage and research priorities for future development. Major projects were identified and the SMEs and major corporations involved in the field were grouped according to their focus.

As essentially a waste management strategy, CCUS implementation had represented a challenge for the industry due to current costs. The successful roll-out of the technologies across the industry would depend on the development of adequate business models and regulatory frameworks to incentivise long-term investment. Considering that the research also covered main policy and regulatory frameworks, as well as the current status of business model discussions and other key aspects for industry development such as social acceptance and impact as well as the development of the necessary skills to support the deployment of the technologies.

Some of the key areas that CLT had covered in the landscape, for both the UK and India, were:

• Identification of the main universities working on CCUS, their research focus area, key projects and capabilities
• Emerging and innovative technologies being researched
• Key R&D institutes and research networks
• SMEs and large enterprises active in the field
• Major on-going projects
• Technologies being researched and developed
• Policy and research frameworks
• Studies on technical-economic analysis and life-cycle analysis
• Studies on social impacts of CCUS.

Outcome

Through our research approach and detailed analysis, a clear view of CCUS development status in each geography was provided. We presented key insights and identified potential areas for collaboration that was uncovered during the research, not only in technology areas but also in cross-cutting areas such as the impact on the energy system and broader economic and social implications. The recommendations also included possible routes to collaboration for future research and was shared with UKRI-ESRC, UKRI-EPSRC and DST India.

Using CLT’s landscape report, UKRI and DST are able to engage in discussions for potential collaboration on CCUS. The report had helped UKRI and DST to have a clear view of CCUS status in both countries and would allow them to further discuss the research collaboration opportunities in the field.

“UKRI NERC were very pleased with the whole process of working with CLT, starting from the quality of the bid through to the final deliverable. CLT were highly responsive to our requests and input, and worked well with their partners to ensure that we received a detailed and useful report, which answered our scope and key questions. The team was a pleasure to work with.”
— Senior Programme manager, UKRI NERC