{"id":86016,"date":"2026-02-05T11:37:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T06:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=86016"},"modified":"2026-02-05T11:37:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T06:07:46","slug":"carbon-capture-in-india-why-ccus-is-critical-for-net-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/carbon-capture-in-india-why-ccus-is-critical-for-net-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon Capture in India: Why CCUS Is Critical for Net Zero"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Carbon Capture in India Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union Budget\u2019s allocation of \u20b920,000 crore over five years for <\/span><b>carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> signals a major push towards cutting emissions from hard-to-abate sectors.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By backing CCUS technologies, the government aims to lower industrial carbon footprints and support India\u2019s long-term goal of achieving net-zero emissions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>About Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Solutions<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Capturing carbon emissions &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CCUS refers to a set of technologies that <\/span><b>capture carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> released during industrial activities before it enters the atmosphere. CO\u2082 is the main driver of global warming and climate change.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Storage or reuse of captured CO\u2082 &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once captured, CO\u2082 can either be <\/span><b>stored safely underground<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in geological formations for long periods or <\/span><b>utilised<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by converting it into useful products such as chemicals, fuels, or construction materials.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Not a single technology &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CCUS is <\/span><b>not one technology<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but a range of methods and processes aimed at preventing CO\u2082 emissions. Different industries use different capture, transport, storage, or utilisation techniques.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Limited deployment so far &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although CCUS technologies have existed for decades, their use has been limited due to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">high costs, safety concerns, and scaling challenges<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Deployment has picked up only recently.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Global status of CCUS &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most active CCUS projects are currently in the <\/span><b>US, Europe, and China<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Even so, only about <\/span><b>50 million tonnes of CO\u2082<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are captured annually\u2014less than <\/span><b>0.5%<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of global emissions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Crucial for net-zero goals &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With global emissions remaining high, CCUS is increasingly seen as essential. There is no credible pathway to achieving <\/span><b>net-zero emissions by 2050<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or controlling global warming without large-scale adoption of CCUS technologies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Budget Push for Carbon Capture in India<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With emissions expected to rise in the near and medium term due to rapid industrialisation and infrastructure expansion, CCUS is crucial for India to meet its long-term net-zero by 2070 commitment.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>India\u2019s CCUS journey so far<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since announcing its <\/span><b>net-zero goal at the 2021 Glasgow climate summit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, India has accelerated efforts to develop indigenous CCUS technologies tailored to domestic conditions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pilot and demonstration CCUS projects are already running in steel, cement and chemical sectors.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potential large-scale capture and storage sites have been mapped, and Centres of Excellence\u2014such as at IIT Bombay and JNCASR Bengaluru\u2014are driving research.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While CCUS science is well understood, major engineering, process and material innovations are needed across capture, transport, storage and utilisation to improve efficiency, safety and affordability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Policy and R&amp;D roadmap<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December, the Department of Science and Technology released a <\/span><b>CCUS R&amp;D roadmap for 2030<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, identifying key technology, finance and policy bottlenecks slowing adoption.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Role of the \u20b920,000 crore budget outlay<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>five-year budget allocation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> aims to bridge the critical funding gap for field testing and scale-up.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many CCUS solutions have proven laboratory success but require real-world deployment to reach commercial readiness.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The funding seeks to raise technology readiness levels so systems can capture or store 100\u2013500 tonnes of CO\u2082 per day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts expect several CCUS technologies to reach <\/span><b>commercial deployment in India within five years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Economic Benefits of CCUS<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Hard-to-abate industries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; CCUS is crucial for sectors like steel and cement, where carbon dioxide emissions arise not just from fuel use but are an inherent part of the production process. Switching to renewable power alone cannot eliminate these emissions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Only viable decarbonisation route<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; In cement and steel, most CO\u2082 emissions come from chemical processes rather than energy consumption. CCUS is therefore the only practical solution to significantly reduce their carbon footprint.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Budget focus on major emitters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The \u20b920,000 crore budget allocation is aimed at end-use CCUS applications in power, steel, cement, refineries and chemicals\u2014industries that together account for the bulk of India\u2019s CO\u2082 emissions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Boosting export competitiveness<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Indian exporters in these sectors face carbon-related trade barriers such as the EU\u2019s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). CCUS adoption can help lower embedded emissions, making Indian products more competitive in global markets.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-climate\/budget-carbon-capture-solutions-india-needs-10512853\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carbon capture in India gets a boost as Budget allocates \u20b920,000 crore for CCUS, key to cutting emissions from steel, cement and power sectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":86030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[5160,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-86016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-carbon-capture-in-india","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86016"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86070,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86016\/revisions\/86070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}