Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential for Direct Air Capture to contribute to the UK's (a) 2050 net zero target and (b) 2030 5MtCO2 per year Greenhouse Gas Removals target.

The Net Zero Strategy identifies greenhouse gas removal methods, such as Direct Air Capture as essential to meet the UK’s 2050 net zero target. These technologies will compliment ambitious decarbonisation across the UK economy, compensating for residual emissions in the most difficult to decarbonise sectors. By 2050, its anticipated that deployment of engineered removals will be between 75 and 81 MtCO2/year. Governmental analysis in the Net Zero Strategy showed that the potential contribution of Direct Air Carbon Capture and Sequestration could range from 18-29MtCO2 in 2050.

The Government will consult on preferred support mechanisms to incentivise investment in ‘First of a Kind’ Greenhouse Gas Removal technologies in spring 2022 to underpin our 2030 ambition. The Government is also investing £100 million of innovation funding for research, development and piloting of promising new Greenhouse Gas Removal techniques.