Tens of thousands of new jobs across Britain must be created across the country to underpin the growth of the carbon capture and storage industry, according to Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley.

Speaking after visits to CCS Teesside and Humberside regions on 16 January, he said decarbonising heavy industry, like steel, cement and refineries, hydrogen production and power plants needed a new generation of clean jobs.

Mr Brearley met the team behind the Viking CCS scheme, which is a carbon capture and storage project in the southern North Sea. He also toured several other carbon capture and low-carbon energy projects currently under construction in the East Coast Cluster, including a hydrogen plant.

Later in the day he also visited CATCH, which is an advanced engineering and industrial training facility in Humberside, and Teesworks Skills Academy, which links jobseekers, local employment hubs and skills providers across the Tees Valley. Mr Brearley met a number of apprentices at both training facilities and learnt about the specialist skills they are being equipped with to access the 20,000 new jobs expected to be created by the two regions’ carbon capture and low-carbon energy projects.

Following the visits, Mr Brearley met Tees Valley Mayor Lord Houchen on 17 January, to discuss in further detail how the region’s burgeoning carbon capture and low-carbon energy industry, including offshore wind, is set to create thousands of good-quality jobs for local people, as well as adding £1bn per year to the economy over 25 years.

The government has set ambitious targets to achieve 20-30mtpa of carbon storage and four operational CCUS clusters by 2030, which will support the delivery of 50,000 jobs in the industry.

Jonathan Brearley said:

“It’s inspiring to see such ambitious, innovative projects taking shape in Humberside and Teesside, which will help to create thousands of jobs and are critical to achieving the government’s target of decarbonise the power system by 2035, and reach net zero by 2050.

“The gas crisis, as much as the climate crisis, has shown the need for building our energy security from volatile international gas markets. Our role at Ofgem is to unlock investment and accelerate signing off infrastructure and facilities to ensure everyone can benefit from a net zero system as quickly as possible, at the lowest cost to consumers to protect businesses and households.

“These carbon capture and low-carbon projects will play a key role in delivering this cheaper, more secure and cleaner energy system for the country, and these apprenticeships and trainees will be going into the wide range of new, highly-skilled jobs needed to realise the net zero energy transition.”

Under the Energy Act 2023, Ofgem will be responsible for regulating the transportation and storage networks of carbon dioxide in the UK, and these networks will be part of the infrastructure needed for carbon capture and storage.

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