Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the level of technical maturity and commercial readiness of WECCS (waste-energy carbon capture and storage) at EfW (energy-from-waste) sites to deliver verified greenhouse-gas removals at scale.

Carbon capture and storage (CCUS) is fundamental to the deep decarbonisation of industries such as energy-from-waste (EfW). CCUS is the only net zero compliant technology for many types of plants in the residual waste management sector.

The residential waste sector has a high percentage of biogenic CO2, which if captured have the potential to create greenhouse gas removals.

The government has developed a business model to support Waste CCUS projects and stimulate private sector investment. Following the signature of the first Waste ICC contract, the Protos Energy Recovery Facility in Cheshire is set to be the UK’s first CCUS-enabled Energy from Waste facility, generating enough electricity to power 80,000 UK homes securing 500 jobs. This is a first step to delivering carbon removals from the EfW sector, demonstrating the technical readiness of CCUS enabled EfW facilities.