CCUS industry may create over 70,000 new jobs

The UK’s nascent carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) sector may create over 70,000 new jobs, and protect up to 77,000 jobs in carbon-intensive trade-exposed industries.

That is according to new modelling by the Carbon Capture & Storage Association (CCSA), which shows that Yorkshire and Humber, Wales and the Northwest of England have the most to gain.

However, the researchers warned that these benefits will not be realised without action to scale the CCUS supply chain and workforce, with the industry currently heading towards a “bottleneck in skilled personnel”. They recommend that the UK ensures there are clear pathways for skills transferability from one industry to another, with information readily available on which skills are relevant for use in the CCUS sector.

More must also be done to upskill and retrain local communities, while retaining teachers in training positions is becoming problematic as many are retiring from the sector or being enticed by higher-paying industry roles.

Ruth Herbert, chief executive at the CCSA, said that overcoming these challenges will provide the “opportunity for the UK to access a multi-billion-pound global supply chain market for CCUS equipment, goods and services”.

Read more about the research here