Scotland has just announced the launch of a new CO2 Utilisation Challenge Fund to help develop new carbon utilization solutions.
Carbon utilization involves the process of transforming captured CO2 emissions into useful products, such as proteins, synthetic fuels and others.
The new fund will be administered by Scottish Enterprise, and it will also be match-funded by industry.
Hence, the current £5 million may potentially be more than doubled over the next two years, which is the current lifetime of the initiative.
This launch is indicative of the Scottish Government’s full commitment to helping the economy achieve net-zero emissions, especially in light of the recent IPCC report that highlighted the severity of the climate crisis.
In a statement, Net Zero and Energy Secretary Michael Matheson acknowledged the need to ramp up development of new technologies, such as carbon capture and utilization (CCU), as well as carbon capture and storage (CCS).
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Matheson also pointed out that seeing as how the UK Government has thus far been unable to sufficiently support CCS in Scotland, the £5 million fund will serve as a guarantee of sorts that Scotland will be spearheading the shift to new industrial opportunities stemming from future CCUS deployment.
In fact, Scotland’s ambitions for the newly launched CO2 Utilisation Challenge Fund are that it will put the country in a leading position in the global effort to mitigate the climate crisis.
Furthermore, Head of Low Carbon Transition at Scottish Enterprise Andy McDonald sees this as a unique opportunity for local companies to receive support for their innovative solutions that will convert CO2 into products with commercial value.
This, according to McDonald, will also facilitate the creation of more high-value jobs and offer a range of other economic benefits for different sectors, while also helping save the environment.
Read more: A Report Sees 50,000 UK Jobs In Carbon Capture Utilization And Storage
