Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) engages on climate policy with a mix of positive and negative positions. While it is partially supportive of climate regulations, it strongly advocates for scaling up carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen, often to prolong a role for fossil gas in the energy mix.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: CCSA has positive top-line positions on climate action. The organization recognized the urgency of responding to global warming, citing the 1.5°C temperature threshold overshoot in 2024 and supported UK’s updated nationally-determined contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC in separate press releases in November 2024. CCSA’s position on government intervention on climate change appears to be limited to support for market-based solutions, as stated in a December 2024 written evidence to a UK parliament committee. InfluenceMap could not find any recent evidence of CCSA’s support for the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: CCSA demonstrates positive positions on climate-related regulations. The organization supported emission trading policies by advocating for linking UK ETS and EU ETS in written evidence submitted to a UK parliament committee in December 2024. In December 2024, CCSA released a position paper supporting EU’s FuelEU Maritime Regulation, which sets GHG emissions standards for fuels. In this paper, CCSA also appeared supportive of EU’s Methane Regulation for the energy sector.
Positioning on Energy Transition: CCSA appears unsupportive of a transition away from a fossil fuel-based energy system, and cites CCS technologies as a justification to prolong fossil fuel use. Most of the organization’s advocacy focuses on broad promotion of CCS technology across different sectors, in contrast to IPCC guidance that call for a limited and targeted role of CCS to tackle residual emissions. In press releases in November-December 2024, CCSA CEO Olivia Powis advocated for policy support for CCS development in fossil gas and industrial sectors, called for CCS to be included in the EU Clean Industrial Deal, and advocated for UK government investments in CCS to scale up fossil gas-fired generation. In an April 2024 written evidence to UK parliament committee inquiry, CCSA advocated for new fossil gas capacity supported with CCS in the UK, alongside a "complement of technologies" (hydrogen, renewables, nuclear, and bioenergy with CCS). Between 2022 and 2024, CCSA directly engaged with UK policymakers promoting CCS through the UK CCUS Council, a government-industry forum.
CCSA appears unsupportive of policy measures that target decarbonization of the energy sector. The group advocated for major exceptions in EU’s Hydrogen and Gas Decarbonization Package Delegated Act in October 2024 feedback: while CCSA supported the 70% GHG emissions threshold for low-carbon hydrogen, it also advocated for a ‘technology-neutral’ approach and an expansion of low-carbon gases, specifying for this to include fossil-based gases.
This summary was last updated in Q2 2025.