ReportNational spotlights
Growth through removals: Making greenhouse gas removals a vibrant part of the UK economy
How the UK can lead in greenhouse gas removals (GGR) — unlocking investment, jobs, and net-zero growth through innovation, procurement, and the ETS.
The UK stands at a crossroads. Greenhouse gas removal (GGR) is no longer a futuristic concept – in the world of overshoot that is approaching – it is a pillar of credible climate strategy and an industrial race already underway with other countries and regions such as Japan and the EU already leading the way. Every pathway to net zero relies not just on cutting emissions, but on removing carbon from the atmosphere at scale. Today, removals fall far short of what is needed.
The UK is well placed to lead. With world-class science, deep financial markets, and vast North Sea storage, Britain has the raw materials to build a world-leading GGR sector. Done right, this combination of factors can create a new generation of export industries, open up a trillion-dollar global market — and support up to 60,000 high-skilled jobs across the UK (and particularly in Scotland, the Midlands and the North) by 2050.
The economic opportunity is clear. Carbon removal could revitalise industrial supply chains, drive investment into underpowered regions, and position Britain as a global hub for climate innovation. But the window is closing fast. Other countries are moving first, setting standards, scaling technologies and writing the rules. Without decisive action, Britain risks becoming a buyer, not a builder, of the next generation of climate solutions.
In towns like mine, the transition to net zero can’t just be about targets on paper – it has to be about real jobs, investment in industry, and opportunities for the next generation.
– Melanie Onn MP, Labour MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes and former Deputy Chief Executive of RenewableUK
Key takeaways
This paper sets out how the UK can seize the GGR opportunity. It argues for action across three pillars:
- Drive corporate demand: Use public procurement to catalyse early projects and maximise the impact and integrity of integrating Markets.
- Lay the foundations for success: Extend innovation funding, bridge the financing gap for early-stage technologies, establish world-leading certification standards, and extend support across a broader range of GGR methodologies.
- Make GGR central to UK climate strategy: Fund large-scale carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) clusters, back the industrial infrastructure needed for removals, and put GGR at the heart of net zero delivery.