Independent Review of Greenhouse Gas Removals: terms of reference
Published 31 March 2025
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Background
1. The Clean Energy Superpower Mission sets the Government’s commitment to delivering Clean Power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero by 2050.
2. As outlined by groups including the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGRs) must play a significant role in supporting the UK’s carbon budgets and reaching net zero.
3. For GGRs that use biomass, their feedstocks will be subject to strict sustainability criteria.
Purpose and Scope
4. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Secretary of State has commissioned an independent review of GGRs, to consider how options for GGRs, including large-scale Power Bio-energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS), can assist the UK in meeting our net zero targets, out to 2050.
5. The review is not centred on any particular project and will consider all GGRs, with a focus on engineered GGR approaches, which includes those that are reliant on the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) transport and storage network, as well as those engineered approaches that are not. The review will consider:
a. The potential scale of emissions savings required to be enabled by each GGR technology to support the UK’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and our legally binding Carbon Budget 6 (CB6), Carbon Budget 7 (CB7), and net zero by 2050.
b. The opportunities of GGR deployment at scale such as: the UK’s strong scientific and engineering expertise and co-products associated with different GGR technologies including energy and hydrogen production.
c. Barriers to deployment at scale such as: recognising the gaps in scientific evidence; current regulatory framework; availability and prioritisation of resources (including energy and feedstocks); and public perceptions.
d. Anticipated economic cost of deploying GGRs in the UK, including: deliverability; value for money; future potential cost reductions; and global comparative costs.
e. Approaches to transitioning away from public investment and attracting private investment, including through carbon markets.
f. Role and opportunities of GGRs in supporting Government’s wider Growth and Clean Energy Superpower Missions.
g. Role and options for all GGRs, domestically and internationally, to balance the UK’s residual emissions.
6. The review will consider, where relevant, the relative prioritisation of biomass use in the UK’s energy system, and make assessment of viable respective GGR pathways, whilst ensuring the UK’s security of supply.
7. Government has a significant policy programme to support cost-effective deployment of GGRs, including:
a. Continued negotiations with Energy from Waste projects as part of the Track-1 CCUS cluster process.
b. Opening the expansion of the Track-1 HyNet CCUS cluster and future processes to GGR projects.
c. Development of both the GGR Standard and Business Models for GGRs (includes DACCS), Power BECCS and Waste ICC (includes Energy from Waste).
d. Forthcoming government response on integration of GGRs into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), as well as consulting on actions to strengthen the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).
e. Forthcoming consultation on a Common Framework for Biomass Sustainability.
8. The review should not seek to replicate these activities but may be informed by them and their outputs. Government will continue to develop and deliver policy relevant to GGRs, including the areas listed in Paragraph 7.
Leadership
9. The DESNZ Secretary of State has appointed Dr Alan Whitehead CBE as review Chair with overall responsibility for the review and its outputs.
Approach and process
10. The Chair will consider a range of evidence including, but not limited to, document analysis and interviews with relevant individuals. In conducting the review, the Chair is expected to consult widely with a diverse range of stakeholders.
11. GGRs play an important role in future carbon budgets. Work to set CB7 is ongoing, and the Chair will engage with DESNZ, sharing interim findings, as appropriate during the review, to feed into the carbon budgets process.
Governance
12. This is an independent review sponsored by the DESNZ Permanent Secretary. The Chair is responsible for the delivery of the review and will be accountable to the DESNZ Secretary of State. The Chair will be supported by a review secretariat, based in DESNZ.
Outputs
13. The review will produce a report including a set of recommendations, in line with the scope of the review, which will be submitted to the DESNZ Secretary of State in October 2025, with interim findings reported to the DESNZ Secretary of State as appropriate during the review. The Government will publish the review’s findings.