Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration, CCUS, has the potential to be established as a huge knowledge-based industry incentivized by the need to cut 7% per year to meet the 1.5 °C global warming targets.

CCUS is now recognized as a key tool for decarbonizing the hard-to-abate industry (e.g., phosphate, cement, waste-to-energy). Cheap renewable energy is key for enabling the massive deployment of such an industry while maximizing its environmental performance. In this aspect, Africa is well positioned for accommodating the different value chains of the CCUS industry, given the large renewable energy potential, sequestration and mineralization resource availability, as well as the complementarity with the different priorities of the green hydrogen economy, biogenic energy, and water management.

CCUS can boost those priorities, both as an enabler (e.g., use of the captured CO2 from hard-to-abate industry to produce renewable methanol, jet fuel, green chemicals & fertilizers) and for waste handling. Carbon-negative pathways are also on the rise worldwide, driven by the need to suck CO2 from the atmosphere, bringing large opportunities in the carbon credit market. The deployment of CCUS can mitigate the negative impact of the newly established CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) taxation being applied by the EU on imports, risking reducing African industry competitiveness, through increased costs.