“Back the Scottish Cluster” Campaign Launched

The Scottish Cluster – uniting communities, industries, and businesses to deliver Carbon Capture and Storage (“CCS”), hydrogen and other low carbon technologies, supporting Scotland, the UK and Europe to meet net zero goals, while creating low carbon jobs and sustaining vital but hard to abate industries

The Scottish Cluster, led by a cross-sector group of Scottish industrial CO2 emitters and the Acorn CCS and Hydrogen Project Partners, has today been established as a unification and collaboration of Scottish industries, communities and businesses, calling on the Scottish and UK Governments to deliver the actions needed so that CCS, hydrogen and other low carbon technologies, can enable the decarbonisation of Scottish and UK industry and facilitate a low carbon economy. The Scottish Cluster has today launched the “Back the Scottish Cluster” Campaign.

The cluster brings together key stakeholders from across Scotland and key industries in the Scottish economy including whisky, transport, technology, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, real estate, manufacturing, academia, communities and the public sector creating a unified voice making the case for CCS, hydrogen and low carbon technologies in Scotland’s decarbonisation pathway. Industry emissions must be reduced to achieve Scotland and the UK’s net zero targets. Reducing industry emissions will require widespread use of CCS technology and hydrogen, both of which are essential for decarbonising sectors such as transport, heat, and power and for supporting the deployment of carbon removal technologies like Direct Air Capture.

The Scottish Cluster has a clear decarbonisation roadmap, ready access to key infrastructure and a series of CO2 reduction projects aligned to the countries’ net zero goals. With the potential to address up to 9 million tonnes of CO2 that currently comes from the top emitting sectors in Scotland, the Scottish Cluster also establishes a very large CO2 transportation and storage solution. This includes shipping CO2 through Scottish Ports crucial to reducing industrial emissions from areas around the UK, and even Europe, that need access to CO2 transport and storage facilities.

Scotland has unique potential in CO2 storage. The Acorn Project, led by Storegga, Shell and Harbour Energy, is one of the most mature UK CCS and hydrogen projects and is positioned to be the most cost-effective and scalable CCS project in the UK. By the mid-2020s, Acorn’s CCS and hydrogen systems will provide critical backbone infrastructure for the Scottish Cluster. Because this infrastructure can scale as the demand to store CO2 grows, it can cost effectively transform Scotland’s carbon intensive industries and help build a fairer, more resilient economy while sustaining and creating low carbon jobs across the whole of the UK.

The UK Government has said it will provide £1 billion to support the development of four CO2 capture and storage clusters across the UK by the end of the decade as part of its Ten Point Plan to reach net zero climate targets by 2050. The Scottish Cluster welcomes the BEIS cluster sequencing for CCUS and unites local, industry and national voices in pressing case for selecting the Scottish Cluster for Track-1 BEIS cluster sequencing.

Acorn has received match funding from the UK and Scottish Governments and has benefited from two rounds of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding from the European Commission.

Nick Cooper, CEO of Storegga, lead developer of the Acorn Project, said,
“The Scottish Cluster and the “Back the Scottish Cluster” Campaign is a positive, forward-looking vision for the region’s roadmap to decarbonisation. It unifies the voices of Scottish industry and will look to highlight the importance of CCS, hydrogen and other low carbon technologies in Scotland to aid the country, the UK and Europe in tackling climate change and meeting net zero goals at the same time as creating and preserving jobs in industries which struggle to decarbonise totally.
“The Acorn CCS and Hydrogen project is perfectly placed to make best use of legacy oil and gas infrastructure and Scotland’s excellent offshore geology for CO2 storage with the deep-water port of Peterhead offering significant import capabilities. Of all the UK CCS projects, Scotland is blessed with the largest, most scaleable and most advanced infrastructure.”

Mike Smith, CEO NECCUS said,
“NECCUS, as the association for industrial decarbonisation in Scotland, is a firm supporter of the “Back the Scottish Cluster” campaign. Scotland is the obvious place to begin the decarbonisation journey, and has a wealth of projects, such as the Acorn CCS and Hydrogen project, which can put in place the building blocks to enable the UK to retain and expand its industrial base in a net zero future. As industry contributes £26 bn per year to the Scottish economy, employing some 300,000 people, it is vital we deliver the infrastructure needed to support industry in the future.”Scot Gov publication – Securing a green recovery on a path to net zero: climate change plan 2018–2032 – update (Dec 2020)

*Scot Gov publication – Securing a green recovery on a path to net zero: climate change plan 2018–2032 – update (Dec 2020)