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Carbon capture and storage is “a necessity, not an option” for the UK’s ambition to transition to net zero by 2050 The UK is well placed to lead in CCUS globally with: - A worldwide reputation as an international centre of engineering excellence - Extensive experience from the oil, gas and petrochemicals sector - Substantial CO2 storage potential and industrial infrastructure e.g. gas network The UK is a first mover; we will support the establishment of at least two low carbon CCUS clusters by the mid- 2020s and a further two by 2030 through which we aim to capture 20-30MtCO2 per year.

Britain used to be an energy powerhouse. We built technologies that brought jobs and prosperity across the country. We have a once in a generation chance to build on that prosperity and growth, but only if we double down on our advantages. If we delay, or fail to seize the available opportunities, other countries will win the race for these industries of the future. Clean energy is that future and a perfect fit for the UK's strengths.

The UK has major growth opportunities in Clean Energy Industries. We are a coastal nation, a scientific and innovation superpower, with strengths in high-value manufacturing and a skilled energy workforce to match. With our world-leading renewable energy deployment, and deep capital markets, Britain is the natural home for Clean Energy Industries. We can deliver investment in manufacturing and deployment that will have significant spillover benefits for innovation, services, and skills across the country, leveraging the clean energy transition to turbocharge growth.

Clean energy investors are clear that they want to grow in the UK and to invest billions here, but they cannot do this on their own. They need certainty, they need stability, they need a partner to take the first step with them in developing new technologies, and they need an incentive to expand supply chains. This is our plan to secure that growth, to back those Clean Energy Industries and unlock billions more in investment. To break down barriers to projects, to invest alongside industry where necessary, to ensure we create good jobs, to incentivise companies to build it in Britain.

This is the global economic opportunity of our time, and in an uncertain world, the Government's Missions to Kickstart Economic Growth and make the UK a Clean Energy Superpower are sending a clear message that we are unwavering in our commitment to these industries and to energy security. The net zero economy is already growing three times faster than the wider UK economy and we have seen over £40 billion of private investment in clean energy announced since July. Our Clean Industry Bonus smashed expectations, with £544 million for offshore wind developers to prioritise investment in regions that need it most, leveraging billions more in private investment, including in traditional oil and gas communities, ex-industrial areas, ports, and coastal towns.

Delivering Clean Power by 2030 will protect the economy and billpayers from the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices, the cause of half of recessions since 1970.4 By harnessing the potential of AI, automation and advanced technologies we can optimise how energy is generated and consumed. The resulting modern, affordable, and secure energy system is fundamental to building a stronger and more productive economy. The UK will build an energy system that will bring down bills for households and businesses for good, bringing certainty, stability, and growth.

Growing our Clean Energy Industries and boosting domestic supply chains is fundamental to supporting wider industry to decarbonise. Growing our Clean Energy Industries and boosting domestic supply chains is fundamental to supporting wider industry to decarbonise. Foundational industries such as steel, chemicals, critical minerals, composites and other materials such as glass, provide critical inputs to enable growth in Clean Energy Industries.

The clean energy transition is the defining economic opportunity of the twenty-first century and the UK is uniquely positioned to lead it. The government's Plan for Change set out our ambitious mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, which will kickstart economic growth and break down the barriers to opportunity as we create a new generation of good jobs across every corner of the country to deliver energy security.

Someone is going to win the global race for the clean energy jobs of the future and we are determined that it should be the UK. The job opportunities on offer are huge, with roles available across a range of skill levels and occupations, from plumbers to production managers, engineers to electricians, and technicians to welders. This presents a significant opportunity to revitalise our industrial heartlands and ensure that our existing home-grown energy workforce can move flexibly into good clean energy roles.

Clean energy is already providing good jobs to hundreds of thousands of people across the UK. Jobs in Wind, Nuclear, and Electricity Networks all advertise average salaries of over £50,000, compared to the UK average of £37,000. For young people, these jobs can offer higher levels of pay across occupations, with entry-level 'green' roles commanding a 23% average pay premium in around 60% of occupations. These jobs also provide the security of a rapidly-growing sector, as new and emerging green jobs are less likely to be automated and have had more resilience in demand than the wider jobs market in recent years.

However, we know there is more to be done. While the clean energy workforce is growing rapidly in the UK, by around 8% and 10% per year in 2022 and 2023 respectively, other countries have far more jobs per capita. For example, in 2023 Germany had almost 3 times as many renewable energy jobs per capita as the UK; Sweden and Denmark almost 4 and 5 times as many respectively. Across the economy, industry investment in skills has been falling in recent years with evidence suggesting significant underinvestment in the UK compared to our European peers.

The government's recent significant programme of investment in clean energy, alongside the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan and this Jobs Plan, shows our firm commitment to ensuring Britain leads the world in the clean energy transition and creates the conditions needed for industry to accelerate investments in the skills system.

This annex describes the experimental approach taken to assessing the growth required in the clean energy workforce from a 2023 baseline to 2030, where opportunities are likely to be located, and the types of occupations likely to be in high demand and relatively more difficult to fill.

Clean energy technologies encompass power generation, transmission and distribution, greenhouse gas removals, clean heat, and energy efficiency. The full list of sub-sectors is provided in Table 1 below. Clean energy jobs are measured as the number of jobs that are supported by the deployment and operation of clean energy technologies and their supply chains. This analysis covers both direct and indirect jobs, these employment categories can be defined as:

Direct jobs: employment that is directly within the primary industry or sector under consideration (for example, construction of wind farms and/or manufacturing of wind turbines, and installation of heat pumps).

Indirect jobs: employment generated in industries that supply goods or services to the primary sector. This includes jobs supported lower down the supply chain related to production of intermediate inputs used by the primary sector (for example, manufacturing the compressors that are used in heat pump installation).

Induced jobs are excluded from this analysis; employment resulting from the spending of wages by workers in direct and indirect employment, leading to increased demand in other sectors.

This analysis does not measure net additional jobs across the economy. Much of the increase in workforce across clean energy sectors will involve workers who have transitioned from other sectors or will displace high carbon energy jobs; however, these effects are not accounted for as the evidence is not available. The analysis also does not capture replacement demand - i.e., the workers required to replace workers that leave the clean energy workforce.

There is inherent uncertainty in estimating the size of the 2030 clean energy workforce. The future size and geographic spread of the clean energy workforce will be dependent on delivery and final location of the pipeline of projects out to 2030, the ability to recruit into the sector, cost assumptions, any assumptions made about the ability of UK businesses to export overseas, and the validity of the assumptions made around the workers required to deploy a particular amount of technology. These estimates do not represent precise predictions; they are indicative of the orders of magnitude the clean energy workforce will need to increase by 2030 to meet demand in UK clean energy sectors and their supply chains (where possible, both domestic and global demand has been considered - see Table 1 for details).

The government has five national missions, to:

Kickstart Economic Growth

Build an NHS Fit for the Future

Safer Streets

Break Down the Barriers to Opportunity

Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) leads on the government's mission to Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower, working in close collaboration with other departments (see Section 1.1.3).

Research, development, and innovation (hereafter 'R&D') are critical enablers for achieving both pillars of the Clean Energy Superpower Mission (CESM): delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero by 2050. They provide the robust scientific evidence base for policy decisions and delivery, enable the successful innovation and scaling up of necessary technologies, and enhance productivity and economic growth. As estimated by the International Energy Agency, approximately 35% of the global emission reductions needed in 2050 to reach net zero rely on technologies that are not yet commercially available.

Areas of Research Interest documents (ARIs) set out research questions and evidence needs of government organisations. They are a key tool for shaping the research landscape - helping to align academic, industry, and public sector efforts with government priorities. This ARI document sets out the R&D needed to deliver the CESM, based on cross-government consensus. It captures the breadth of challenges and opportunities across both mission pillars and seeks to encourage more structured dialogue and collaboration with external stakeholders.

This ARI document is intended to support collaboration between government, academia, industry, and other research organisations. It sets out both the full thematic breadth of research areas relevant to the CESM and a focused set of priority R&D challenges where coordinated effort is most urgently required. Together, these provide a strategic framework to guide research investment, shape funding programmes, and inform policy development.

It can be used to:

Align research proposals with government priorities and identify areas of high impact.

Support dialogue between researchers and policymakers on emerging evidence needs.

Inform funding decisions by enabling researchers to clearly link proposals to government priorities.

Guide cross-sector collaboration by highlighting shared challenges and opportunities.

This ARI has been intentionally developed at a strategic level. While it captures the full breadth of research areas relevant to the mission, it does not aim to provide detailed R&D requirements. Instead, it offers directional guidance on the research considered most valuable at the time of assessment, rather than an exhaustive specification. As part of our future plan, we will define what success looks like and develop approaches to measure progress.

Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) will reduce the risk and cost of the UK's transition to a low carbon energy system, according to this report delivered by the Energy Systems Catapult for the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).

'Still in the mix? Understanding the role of Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage', takes into account recent cost reductions in renewables and the latest ETI modelling on CCUS costs. The report reaffirms previous ETI work on the importance of CCUS deployment by 2030 and ETI analysis that if CCUS is not developed at all before 2050, the 'national bill' for low carbon energy that year would be circa £35bn higher - equivalent to circa 1% of expected GDP.

The report highlights gas power with CCUS (up to 3GW) as an effective low carbon electricity option that can be deployed cost-effectively before 2030 within an electricity generation mix that meets the 5th carbon budget. The report concludes that early investment in gas power CCUS in favourable locations for a CCUS industrial cluster represents the most straightforward, deliverable and best value approach to early deployment of the technology.

Key points:

This new report supports extensive research that has consistently demonstrated that Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) deployment is a key component in minimising costs in the transition to a low carbon energy system.

New electricity system analysis shows that the UK is likely to need low carbon baseload generation to complement renewables - gas power with CCUS and new nuclear are worthy of comparable effort.

If CCUS is not deployed by 2030 carbon abatement costs will rise to circa £1 billion a year - and could double before 2050

Gas power stations with CCUS fitted can provide anchor loads for CO2 pipelines and stores that serve emerging CCUS clusters, unlocking a pathway for CCUS to cut emissions in industry and support hydrogen production.

The ETI has spent 10 years carrying out extensive research on the deployment of CCUS and for this report commissioned analysis from Baringa Partners and Frontier Economics. Baringa explored cost-optimal pathways for decarbonising electricity out to 2050 with a focus on the pre-2030s. Frontier Economics produced illustrative analysis against a baseline scenario informed by the assumptions constructed by Baringa's work.

For bioenergy to sustainably deliver around 10% of UK energy demand in the 2050s, a mixture of UK-grown biomass, residual waste streams and imported biomass will be needed. Expanding UK biomass production will require the UK to make more effective use of new and existing forestry and expand production of second generation energy crops, such as Miscanthus, Short Rotation Coppice willow and Short Rotation Forestry. The ETI�s Characterisation of Feedstocks (CoF) project was carried out by Forest Research and Uniper Technologies Ltd and ran from February 2015 to March 2017. Its purpose was to develop our understanding of the variability of different UK-produced bioenergy feedstocks and the causes of this variation. This project has generated valuable data on the composition of UK-grown feedstocks and their provenance. Some findings from the project corroborated existing knowledge and practice but others, such as the impact of storage type on Miscanthus bale quality, challenge existing assumptions and warrant further research. The testing of Miscanthus pellets also highlights the potential for the pelleting process to unintentionally affect the composition of the pellets, with potentially detrimental impacts on a downstream conversion technology. The TEABPP (Techno-Economic Assessment of Biomass Pre-Processing) project developed a process model which uses best available data to model bioenergy value chains with and without pre-processing. Whilst the model results from the TEABPP project did not highlight many clear circumstances in the UK under which pre-processing would reduce the costs of the bioenergy value chains considered, it did show that most conversion technologies would have to operate with feedstocks characteristics outside of their normal operating range if using Miscanthus, SRC willow or SRF.

In November 2024, the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee launched an inquiry to consider the policy, market and regulatory reforms needed to support the growth of community energy and realise in full the sector's potential contributions to achieving the UK's net zero targets. UKERC welcomes this inquiry and the UK government's ambition to achieve clean power by 2030, including 8GW of local and community-owned energy.

CREDS responds to consultations and calls for evidence from government, agencies and businesses, providing insight and expertise to decision-makers.

This report explores the critical role of flexibility in the ongoing transformation of the Great Britain power system toward Clean Power 2030, and the broader net zero target. This report emphasises the importance of flexibility for maintaining system security and balancing supply and demand under physical and operational constraints.

This working paper examines the extent to which environmental protection is integrated into current decision-making processes related to the transformation in energy infrastructure that is required to reach net zero. This working paper discusses the extent of integration of energy and environment policy, barriers to deployment of renewables, and initiatives relating to spatial energy planning. It also discusses the extent of cross-boundary cooperation between England, Scotland and Wales as well as the need for �upskilling� practitioners and policy makers in a fast-evolving energy technology arena.

This document summarises the outputs of a scoping study that investigated the potential role of biomass as a long-duration energy storage solution to address seasonal and weather-related variations in renewable energy output. The study examined how bioenergy infrastructure, such as seasonally harvested crops and waste wood, could provide flexibility across electricity, heat, and gas systems while considering the implications of integrating biomass with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) for negative emissions. It sought to answer key questions about the technical, commercial, and operational implications of flexible biomass use, the suitability of different fuel and plant types, and the conditions under which BECCS could become viable. It also explored the constraints on biomass supply chains, plant investment, and operation, as well as the competition between UK-produced and international feedstocks. The research aimed to understand the broader implications of using biomass for energy storage, including its economic, environmental, and social impacts. It emphasised the need for a whole-systems approach to evaluate the role of biomass in delivering both negative emissions and energy system flexibility, while addressing gaps in energy system modelling and policy frameworks. A full report of the work is available separately and is referenced in this Executive Summary.

In the context of UK energy system decarbonisation, the value of bioenergy within the energy system is greatest when combined with CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) to deliver negative emissions. Strategies to develop a CCS sector in the UK must include Bioenergy with CCS (BECCS). In the absence of CCS, the value of bioenergy is greatest when producing gaseous or liquid fuels for use in sectors which are otherwise difficult to decarbonise, and where no lower-carbon options are readily available. The flexibility of gasification with syngas clean-up makes it resilient to wider energy system decisions. Investment is needed to deploy this technology at a commercial scale. The UK has the potential to increase biomass feedstock production in ways which deliver additional environmental benefits. Greater focus is needed on developing markets and business models which encourage new planting in suitable locations. To develop and expand the UK bioenergy sector sustainably and in a way which is strategically valuable to the UK�s decarbonisation efforts, action must be taken to develop sustainable feedstocks supplies and demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of key technologies. This report sets out four key recommendations to help the UK capitalise on key opportunities to develop the bioenergy sector: Create the right environment for BECCS in the UK, which through deployment can significantly reduce the cost of meeting the UK�s 2050 emissions targets and increase the likelihood that the UK can deliver net-zero emissions. Develop gasification for the production of clean syngas from biomass and wastes to enable the bioenergy sector to remain robust to changes elsewhere in the energy system. Increase biomass production and the supply of sustainable biomass for bioenergy in the UK, and maximise the use of appropriate residual waste resources for energy, to enable the delivery of greater emissions savings at a system level. Deliver more physically and chemically consistent feedstocks to end users, through improvements in plant breeding and pre-processing, and/or develop conversion technologies more resilient to variations in feedstock composition.

The draft Climate Change Plan (CCP) is a strategy document which outlines how the Scottish Government intends to meet emissions reduction targets across all portfolio areas and sectors of the economy. The Scottish Government has said that it aims to publish the draft CCP later this year and that it will cover 2026-2040. To support the Parliament’s scrutiny, the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee undertook a Call for Views in advance of the draft CCP being published. It asked questions about what policies people think should be in the draft CCP across different sectors, and what else needs to be included to deliver a just transition to net zero by 2045. UKERC drafted a response, featuring contributions from over a dozen researchers in the consortium. We welcome the opportunity to engage with the Scottish Parliament on its Draft Climate Change Plan Scrutiny, and we would be happy to follow-up with the Parliament on any our advice below.

New UKERC modelling is assessing the interactions between transmission build-rates and the possible introduction of zonal pricing in the British electricity market. It cautions that investors currently face high uncertainty, and considerable volume of sales risks, with a material impact on renewable energy auctions that are essential for meeting clean power 2030 targets. The analysis suggests that implementing zonal pricing before resolving transmission uncertainties risks exposing investors to unnecessary risks that could negate zonal pricing's benefits.

New UKERC modelling is assessing the interactions between transmission build-rates and the possible introduction of zonal pricing in the British electricity market. It cautions that investors currently face high uncertainty, and considerable volume of sales risks, with a material impact on renewable energy auctions that are essential for meeting clean power 2030 targets. The analysis suggests that implementing zonal pricing before resolving transmission uncertainties risks exposing investors to unnecessary risks that could negate zonal pricing's benefits. Initial findings were published in a Discussion Paper in March 2025. This Working Paper provides additional methodological detail.