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UK Government Needs To Step Up Pace On CCS - Engineering Trade Body

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The U.K. government needs to provide a clear roadmap for the widespread deployment of carbon capture and storage if it is to become a leader in the technology and meet its target of cutting emissions 80% by 2050 from 1990 levels, the Institution of Civil Engineers said in a report Tuesday.

The U.K. government wants CCS, a process used to capture emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants and then transport the carbon dioxide for storage in depleted oil fields or underground aquifers, to play a big role in emissions reductions.

But although the technology has the potential to reduce emissions by up to 90% , it has yet to be deployed on a commercial scale due to its high cost and the negative impact on the efficiency of a power plant. A U.K. government competition to fully fund a CCS project has already been delayed.

"The U.K. was quick on the uptake in the global race to deploy CCS but now we have fallen behind other nations. If we want to keep a competitive lead and take advantage of the export opportunity it presents, progress needs to be greatly accelerated," said ICE Vice President Geoff French.

ICE has more than 83,000 members and works with the U.K. government and industry to ensure that construction and civil engineering remain big contributors to the U.K. economy and U.K. exports.

-By Selina Williams, Dow Jones Newswires +44 207 842 9262; selina.williams@ dowjones.com

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  10-27-090551ET
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