Investigating Wider Economy Impacts of Net Zero Industry Development – Scotland's Net Zero Infrastructure Project (SNZI)

The full proposition led by Pale Blue Dot Energy sets out how the Scotland's Net Zero Infrastructure (SNZI) project will help continue to enable decarbonisation of the Scottish Industrial Cluster, as well as supporting the decarbonisation of other UK and international industrial clusters. It will allow progress to be accelerated around Acorn CCS, a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project aimed at overcoming the high capital costs of CCS deployment, establishing the Acorn Hydrogen plant by 2025 and catalysing clean growth in the region more broadly. Crucially, the inclusion of CEP’s wider economy focus in SNZI will enable progress on Acorn CCS to include full consideration of the role that the project can play in developing a large-scale CO2 management sector in servicing both domestic decarbonisation and a potential new export service in the Scottish and wider UK economy. The Centre for Energy Policy (CEP) based at the University of Strathclyde has a critical role to play and brings vital expertise and experience in understanding the gross and net societal costs of initiatives such as Acorn, and in building consensus around, and acceptance of, their value within a CO2 Transport and Storage (T&S) sector, potentially within a wider emerging CO2 management industry, that could bring net benefits at local, regional and national levels. Our involvement will ensure better understanding of the potential economy-wide consequences of different decarbonisation options, and specifically the potential role of a project like Acorn CCS within new industry development in the UK economy. This will enable action to effect consequences so that economically, socially and politically feasible outcomes can be identified around which traction can build with policy decision makers in key government departments such as Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury, and the devolved Scottish Government.