Here are the climate-related sections of speeches by MPs during the Commons debate CCUS Track 1 Contingent Liabilities: Padeswood.
Sarah Jones (Labour)
Today, I am pleased to have laid a departmental minute with an update on the contingent liabilities associated with the carbon capture usage and storage track 1 clusters, HyNet and East Coast Cluster. This update is in anticipation of our signing contracts with the Padeswood cement project, which we expect soon, subject to timely conclusion of negotiations and resolution of outstanding conditions. Padeswood is a key demonstrator for decarbonisation of the cement industry, on which the security of the UK’s net zero transition is dependent. The addition of further CO 2 capture projects like Padeswood was planned and is part of the Government’s plan to maximise our investment in the HyNet cluster.
CCUS is the only feasible method for decarbonising many hard-to-abate sectors, including cement. Located in north Wales, Padeswood will be the first at-scale UK cement plant incorporating carbon capture and storage technology. The project presents a high value opportunity for the UK to secure a strong global foothold, in a growing customer market, for low-carbon cement production.
His Majesty’s Government’s CCUS programme is the first of its kind and consequently we have sought to overcome multiple market barriers which inhibit the development of a CCUS market in the UK. The costs of constructing and operating CCUS currently exceed the costs of emitting CO 2 —Government support is necessary to address these challenges and enable CCUS deployment at scale. Parliament agreed in November 2024 to accept five contingent liabilities within the CCUS track 1 contracts in order to reduce investor risk in CCUS technologies by bearing some of the initial risk inherent in developing a CCUS market, as well as the cross-chain risk existing across the participants in the CCUS network.
Parliament was notified on 13 November 2024 of the five CLs outlined below, which are associated with the various CCUS track 1 contracts. These were:
The increase in maximum exposure outlined above is necessary to allow us to decarbonise, not deindustrialise, our cement industry. The adoption of the five contingent liabilities summarised above is already allowing HMG to deliver a first-of-a-kind CCUS sector, which we know will be vital for delivering on our net zero targets, as well as supporting jobs and growth in our industrial heartlands.
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