Hot air: carbon removals risk high costs and underdelivery in the UK

The report argues that the UK risks spending billions in public funds on unproven carbon removal technologies, such as power-BECCS and DACCS, which face significant delays and high costs. It highlights that a single project at Drax biomass power station could require £30 billion in subsidies, exceeding the entire national carbon capture and storage budget. The analysis notes that no commercial-scale project has yet begun construction or captured carbon, and warns that power-BECCS may not deliver genuine removals due to feedstock and supply chain emissions. The author recommends prioritising proven decarbonisation methods like renewables and heat pumps over these high-risk technologies.

• The UK government has significantly reduced its near-term expectations for greenhouse gas removals. The 2023 Carbon Budget Delivery Plan projected 5.6 MtCO2 annual removals by 2030, but the 2025 plan lowered this target to 0.7 MtCO2.
• Converting the Drax biomass power station to power-BECCS is estimated to cost £30 billion in public subsidies (in 2023 prices), which is more than the UK Government's total announced funding of £21.7 billion for all CCUS and hydrogen projects over 25 years.
• Commercial-scale direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) costs remain far above the UK Government's target of £200 per tonne. In Iceland, the Climeworks Orca facility reportedly had costs as high as $1,000 per tonne as of March 2025, while the Mammoth project reported costs above $600 per tonne.
• There is a high level of uncertainty regarding the delivery of the UK's carbon removal pipeline; no project has moved beyond the pilot phase or begun construction, and no carbon has been captured at commercial scale as of November 2025.
• The effectiveness of power-BECCS as a genuine carbon removal method is disputed because woody biomass feedstock can have significant carbon payback periods and high supply chain emissions. Drax imported over 99% of its feedstock in 2024.

APA

Murdoch, J. (2025). Hot air: carbon removals risk high costs and underdelivery in the UK. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/GGRS-Short-Analysis.pdf

Chicago

Murdoch, Josie. Hot air: carbon removals risk high costs and underdelivery in the UK. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/GGRS-Short-Analysis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Murdoch |first1=Josie |title=Hot air: carbon removals risk high costs and underdelivery in the UK |publisher=Ember |date=27 November 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/GGRS-Short-Analysis.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{murdoch2025hot, author = {Murdoch, Josie}, title = {{Hot air: carbon removals risk high costs and underdelivery in the UK}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/GGRS-Short-Analysis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }