Environmental impacts of emerging carbon capture technologies for industrial decarbonisation: summary
Published 7 October 2025
Applies to England
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1. Chief Scientist’s Group report summary
This project reviewed evidence on the potential environmental impacts of emerging and novel applications of carbon capture technologies (CCT) used in industrial decarbonisation. CCT remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial flue gases to prevent its release into the atmosphere. The captured CO2 can be used or stored underground, helping reduce emissions from fossil fuel use when alternative options are limited.
1.1 Background
CCT and industrial decarbonisation are important elements of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy. Many CCT applications require environmental permits, with the Environment Agency acting as the main regulator in England. When assessing permit applications, the Environment Agency must consider potential emissions to air and water, as well as waste management activities. Understanding the environmental impacts of CCT is vital to planning future regulatory needs.
1.2 Approach
In 2022, the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a review of next generation CCT, focussing on their performance. Building on that work, this study reviewed scientific literature on the potential environmental impacts of novel applications of CCT. A search identified nearly 700 articles published between January 2020 and March 2024, which was supplemented by older references to clarify process fundamentals. The review prioritised more recent publications. review. It also explored the emerging trends in technology development (the drivers for innovation), and whether their implementation may vary across different industrial sectors.
1.3 Findings
Many CCT have been proposed, but few have been commercially deployed. Most research focuses on early-stage development, including laboratory-scale, and pilot-scale systems. There were several common factors driving the speed of innovation and commercialisation including capital cost, energy penalty (the amount of additional energy needed to run the CCT plant at a given capture rate) and the ability to retrofit them to existing industrial infrastructure.
Across industrial sectors, three main decarbonisation options were identified: source control (substituting for low carbon energy sources), process optimisation (more efficient use of energy), and CCT deployment to manage residual emissions. Reliance on these decarbonisation options varies by sector, and some energy intensive industries would achieve decarbonisation only by coupling their energy use with efforts made by the power sector.
There is limited evidence on the environmental impacts of CCT beyond considerations of water use and the energy penalty. This gap is due to the lack of operational experience and reporting. In many cases, the only emission of interest was CO2 itself, which was a critical measure for demonstrating performance. Where environmental benefits align with cost savings (a major driver for innovation), there was considerable research interest. Impacts that depended on operational experience or were not likely to yield cost reductions, such as waste management, were rarely considered.
1.4 Recommendations
This review highlighted a major gap in the evidence on the wider environmental impacts of CCT and the lack of consideration of such issues within design and development. Recommendations to address this included early engagement with researchers to integrate environmental considerations into technology design, cross-sector learning by investigating similar technologies used in other industries, and international engagement to share knowledge and approaches with other countries.
1.5 Publication details
This summary relates to information from project SC240015, reported in detail in the following output:
- Title: Environmental impacts of emerging carbon capture technologies for industrial decarbonisation
- Project manager: Ian Martin, Chief Scientists’ Group
This project was delivered by the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group, which provides scientific knowledge, tools and techniques to enable us to protect and manage the environment as effectively as possible.
Enquiries: research@environment-agency.gov.uk.
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