CCS Commercialisation: Capturing Carbon Is Only Half The Equation
Updated: 1 day ago
A technically successful CCS project is not necessarily a commercially scalable one.
For hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, cement and chemicals, the question after:
“How much CO₂ can we capture and store?”
is increasingly:
“Who pays for the reduction — and how does the project create enough economic value to justify the investment?”
A carbon tax or ETS can improve the economics by reducing future carbon-cost exposure. But depending on the carbon price and project cost, that alone may not close the business case.
So CCS commercialisation may require multiple potential sources of value:
• avoided carbon-tax / ETS cost;
• a premium or preferred-market position for lower-carbon products;
• carbon-credit revenue where a project qualifies under an applicable methodology;
• emerging environmental-attribute mechanisms that may separate verified carbon performance from the physical product;
• policy and financing support that helps de-risk investment.
The environmental-attribute pathway is still emerging. RMI, for example, has developed book-and-claim frameworks for steel and cement/concrete. These are not yet universal market standards, but they point to an interesting direction: verified low-carbon attributes could potentially create demand even where the physical producer and willing buyer are not directly connected.
This changes the CCS conversation.
The challenge is no longer only:
Capture → Transport → Storage
It is also:
𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 → 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 → 𝗟𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿-𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 / 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 → 𝗕𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 → 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 → 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
That has implications for policy too. Supporting low-carbon supply is only half the equation. Demand-side measures — corporate Scope 3 commitments, green procurement, embodied-carbon requirements and credible certification — can help create markets for lower-carbon materials.
But multiple value pathways create another challenge.
If the same underlying decarbonisation outcome supports a lower-carbon product premium, an environmental attribute or a carbon credit, the market needs confidence that the reduction is measured once, attributed appropriately and not double claimed.
This is why CCS needs more than MRV.
It needs 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.
I increasingly believe this commercial layer will be as important to CCS scale-up as the physical infrastructure itself.