Deep dive: Carbon capture, utilization & storage (CCUS) — the fastest-moving subsegments to watch

Global CCUS capacity reached 49.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year (Mtpa) at the end of 2025, a 44% increase from the 34.2 Mtpa operational in 2023, yet this still represents less than 0.1% of the roughly 37 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted annually from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes (Global CCS Institute, 2025). Beneath this aggregate figure, certain subsegments are accelerating far faster than others. For product and design teams building climate solutions for emerging markets, understanding which parts of the CCUS value chain are gaining traction, and which remain stalled, is essential for strategic positioning.

Why It Matters

The CCUS landscape is not a monolith. It spans point-source capture from power plants and industrial facilities, direct air capture (DAC), CO2 transport infrastructure, permanent geological storage, and a growing portfolio of utilization pathways including mineralization, e-fuels, and building materials. Capital allocation across these subsegments has shifted dramatically since 2023. The US Inflation Reduction Act's 45Q tax credit enhancement to $85 per tonne for geological storage and $180 per tonne for DAC reshaped the economics globally, triggering an investment wave that favors certain subsegments disproportionately.

Emerging markets face a unique calculus. Countries across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa possess abundant geological storage potential but lack pipeline infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and the fiscal capacity for the tax credit structures that drive deployment in North America and Europe. The subsegments gaining traction in these markets often differ from those dominating headlines in the US and EU, making regional intelligence critical for teams designing solutions with global relevance.

Key Concepts

Point-source capture involves installing equipment at facilities that produce concentrated CO2 streams, such as cement kilns, steel blast furnaces, natural gas processing plants, fertilizer production, and power stations. Capture costs vary enormously by CO2 concentration: from $15 to $25 per tonne at natural gas processing facilities (where CO2 concentrations reach 15 to 70%) to $60 to $120 per tonne at cement plants (10 to 30% CO2) and $80 to $150 per tonne at coal power plants (10 to 15% CO2).

Direct air capture (DAC) removes CO2 directly from the ambient atmosphere at roughly 420 parts per million concentration. This thermodynamic disadvantage makes DAC inherently more energy-intensive and expensive than point-source capture, with current costs ranging from $400 to $1,000 per tonne depending on technology, energy source, and scale.

CO2 transport and storage infrastructure encompasses pipelines, shipping, rail, and truck transport of captured CO2 to permanent geological storage sites in saline aquifers, depleted oil and gas reservoirs, or basalt formations. Transport costs range from $2 to $15 per tonne for pipelines (depending on distance and throughput) to $15 to $40 per tonne for ship-based transport.

CO2 utilization converts captured CO2 into products including building aggregates, synthetic fuels, chemicals, and polymers. Utilization pathways vary in permanence: mineralization into building materials provides centuries-long storage, while synthetic fuels re-release CO2 upon combustion.

What's Working

Industrial Point-Source Capture at Scale

The fastest deployment is happening at high-concentration industrial sources where capture costs are lowest. Petronas' Kasawari project in Malaysia, which reached mechanical completion in late 2025, captures 3.3 Mtpa of CO2 from offshore natural gas processing and injects it into a depleted reservoir beneath the seabed. This is the largest offshore CCS project globally and demonstrates that capture from high-purity CO2 streams is technically mature and economically viable even without direct government subsidies, thanks to carbon pricing mechanisms under Malaysia's national climate framework.

In the cement sector, Heidelberg Materials' Brevik CCS project in Norway began full-scale operations in 2024, capturing 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year from a cement kiln using amine-based solvent technology. The captured CO2 is liquefied and shipped to the Northern Lights storage site in the North Sea. Brevik is the world's first commercial-scale cement CCS facility, and its operational data shows capture rates consistently above 90% with energy penalties of 2.5 to 3.0 GJ per tonne of CO2 captured, in line with engineering estimates (Heidelberg Materials, 2025).

CO2 Transport and Storage Hub Development

Rather than building bespoke pipelines for individual capture projects, the industry is converging on shared infrastructure hubs that aggregate CO2 from multiple emitters and transport it to centralized storage complexes. The Northern Lights project in Norway, a joint venture between Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, began commercial operations in 2024 with Phase 1 capacity of 1.5 Mtpa and is expanding to 5 Mtpa by 2027. Northern Lights accepts CO2 from industrial emitters across Europe via ship transport, creating the first open-access, cross-border CO2 storage service.

In the US Gulf Coast, the ExxonMobil-led Houston CCS Hub is developing pipeline infrastructure to connect more than 50 industrial facilities along the Houston Ship Channel to offshore storage sites with estimated capacity exceeding 100 billion tonnes. The hub model reduces per-tonne transport costs by 40 to 60% compared to point-to-point pipelines and de-risks individual capture investments by guaranteeing storage access (ExxonMobil, 2025).

Mineralization and Building Materials

CO2 mineralization is emerging as the fastest-growing utilization pathway because it offers permanent storage combined with a revenue-generating product. CarbonCure Technologies has deployed its system in over 800 concrete plants worldwide, injecting CO2 during mixing where it mineralizes into calcium carbonate nanoparticles. This permanently sequesters CO2 while improving concrete compressive strength by 5 to 10%, allowing producers to reduce cement content and associated costs. Each plant sequesters a modest 500 to 1,500 tonnes of CO2 per year, but the aggregate impact across 800 installations exceeds 500,000 tonnes annually.

Solidia Technologies takes a different approach, using CO2 curing instead of steam curing for precast concrete products. Their process consumes 240 kg of CO2 per tonne of cement used and eliminates the energy cost of steam curing, reducing total production costs by 20 to 30%. Solidia has commercial installations operating in the US and Europe, with licensing agreements for emerging market deployment across India and Southeast Asia (Solidia Technologies, 2025).

What's Not Working

Coal Power CCS

Despite billions in government support, CCS at coal-fired power plants remains commercially unproven at scale. The Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan, Canada, the world's first commercial coal power CCS facility, has consistently underperformed since its 2014 launch. SaskPower reported average capture rates of 55 to 65% against the designed 90% target, with availability of the capture system averaging 60 to 70% versus the 85% assumed in economic models. The levelized cost of captured CO2 exceeded $100 per tonne, roughly double the initial projections (SaskPower, 2025). In emerging markets where coal remains a significant electricity source, these economics make coal CCS uncompetitive against renewable energy alternatives that can deliver lower-cost electricity without the capture infrastructure overhead.

Standalone DAC Without Policy Support

Direct air capture projects in regions without substantial policy incentives face severe economic headwinds. Climeworks' Orca plant in Iceland demonstrated technical viability at 4,000 tonnes per year, and its Mammoth expansion targets 36,000 tonnes per year, but costs remain above $600 per tonne. Without the US 45Q credit ($180/tonne for DAC) or equivalent policy mechanisms, DAC deployment in emerging markets is limited to voluntary carbon removal credit sales, which have proven volatile. Average DAC credit prices on the voluntary market fell from $650 per tonne in early 2024 to $420 per tonne by late 2025 as supply expanded faster than corporate buyer demand (CDR.fyi, 2025).

Enhanced Oil Recovery as a Storage Strategy

CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has historically been the dominant use case for captured CO2, particularly in the US Permian Basin. However, EOR is losing credibility as a climate solution. Life-cycle assessments consistently show that the additional oil produced through CO2-EOR releases 1.5 to 4.0 times more CO2 upon combustion than is stored underground, resulting in net positive emissions in most scenarios. Major carbon credit registries including Verra and Gold Standard have either excluded or severely restricted EOR-based carbon credits, and institutional investors increasingly refuse to count EOR-stored CO2 toward net-zero commitments.

Subsegment Momentum Tracker

Subsegment	2025 Capacity (Mtpa)	2028 Projected (Mtpa)	CAGR	Investment Pipeline	Momentum Rating
Natural Gas Processing CCS	18.2	28.0	15%	$12B	High
Industrial CCS (cement, steel)	2.1	8.5	60%	$18B	Very High
CO2 Transport Hubs	3.5	15.0	62%	$22B	Very High
Geological Storage Services	8.0	25.0	46%	$15B	High
CO2 Mineralization	0.8	3.2	59%	$4B	High
Direct Air Capture	0.04	1.0	190%	$8B	Moderate (cost-dependent)
CO2-to-Fuels (e-fuels)	0.01	0.15	148%	$6B	Moderate
Coal Power CCS	2.4	2.8	5%	$1B	Low

Key Players

Established companies: Equinor (Northern Lights storage operations and hub development), Shell (Quest CCS in Canada and multiple hub investments), ExxonMobil (Houston CCS Hub and Gulf Coast storage portfolio), Heidelberg Materials (Brevik cement CCS and replication strategy), Linde (CO2 compression and liquefaction systems for transport), Air Liquide (amine capture solvent supply and engineering), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (KM CDR Process advanced solvent technology for industrial capture)

Startups and growth-stage companies: CarbonCure Technologies (concrete CO2 mineralization across 800+ plants), Solidia Technologies (CO2-cured precast concrete), Climeworks (solid sorbent DAC technology), Heirloom Carbon Technologies (limestone-based DAC with $600M in backing), Svante (solid sorbent point-source capture for cement and steel), CarbonFree Chemicals (mineralization of CO2 into specialty chemicals and construction materials), 44.01 (in-situ mineralization in peridotite formations in Oman and the UAE)

Investors and funders: Breakthrough Energy Ventures (multiple DAC and utilization portfolio investments), US Department of Energy (Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program with $3.5B allocation), European Commission (Innovation Fund supporting 10+ CCUS projects), Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC, backing CCS projects across Southeast Asia)

Action Checklist

• Map the CO2 concentration profile of target industrial sectors in your market to identify lowest-cost capture opportunities (natural gas processing at $15 to $25/tonne before cement at $60 to $120/tonne)
• Evaluate shared infrastructure hub models for your region rather than designing point-to-point transport solutions
• Assess geological storage capacity using national geological surveys; prioritize saline aquifers and basalt formations over depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs to avoid EOR credibility risks
• Design product architectures that can integrate with both amine solvent and solid sorbent capture technologies, as the technology mix is still consolidating
• Build CO2 mineralization pathways into building materials product roadmaps, as this subsegment combines storage permanence with commercial revenue
• Monitor policy developments in target emerging markets, particularly carbon pricing mechanisms and storage liability frameworks that determine project bankability
• Establish data pipelines for tracking the 150+ CCUS projects currently in development globally to identify partnership and deployment opportunities

FAQ

Q: Which CCUS subsegment offers the best near-term opportunity in emerging markets? A: Industrial point-source capture at high-concentration facilities, particularly natural gas processing and fertilizer production, offers the lowest technical and economic risk. These facilities produce CO2 streams at 15 to 70% concentration, enabling capture costs of $15 to $40 per tonne. Countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brazil have significant natural gas processing infrastructure where CCS can be integrated with relatively modest capital expenditure. CO2 mineralization in concrete also presents a strong opportunity because it requires minimal infrastructure beyond the capture source and generates revenue through improved product performance.

Q: How realistic is the projected growth in CO2 transport hub infrastructure? A: Hub development is accelerating but faces significant permitting and public acceptance challenges. The Northern Lights project required six years from concept to first injection. In the US, pipeline permitting has become a major bottleneck, with the proposed Navigator CO2 pipeline cancelled in 2023 after failing to secure easements across Iowa and South Dakota. Ship-based transport is emerging as an alternative for coastal and island markets, with several projects in Southeast Asia and Japan designing ship-to-offshore-injection supply chains that bypass onshore pipeline requirements entirely.

Q: What should teams designing for emerging markets prioritize: capture, transport, or storage? A: Storage access is the critical enabler. Without confirmed, permitted storage capacity, capture investments are stranded. Teams should work backward from storage: identify available geological capacity, assess transport options (pipeline versus ship versus truck for smaller volumes), and then match capture opportunities to the transport and storage economics. In markets like Mozambique, Vietnam, and Argentina, national geological surveys have identified multi-billion-tonne storage capacity in offshore basins, but regulatory frameworks for CO2 injection permitting remain undeveloped. Early engagement with national regulators on storage frameworks creates strategic advantage.

Q: Is CO2 utilization a viable alternative to geological storage for permanent removal? A: Only mineralization pathways provide durability comparable to geological storage. CO2 mineralized into calcium or magnesium carbonates in building materials is stable for thousands of years. Other utilization pathways, including e-fuels, chemicals, and polymers, re-release CO2 during use or end-of-life, providing temporary displacement of fossil carbon rather than permanent removal. For carbon credit and net-zero accounting purposes, most standards treat only mineralization and geological storage as permanent. Teams should design utilization product lines with this durability distinction clearly articulated to avoid greenwashing risk.

Sources

• Global CCS Institute. (2025). Global Status of CCS 2025: Annual Report. Melbourne: GCCSI.
• Heidelberg Materials. (2025). Brevik CCS Project: First Year Operational Performance Report. Heidelberg: Heidelberg Materials AG.
• ExxonMobil. (2025). Houston CCS Innovation Zone: Project Update and Infrastructure Development Plan. Houston, TX: ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions.
• SaskPower. (2025). Boundary Dam CCS Facility: Decade of Operations Review 2014-2024. Regina, SK: SaskPower.
• CDR.fyi. (2025). Carbon Dioxide Removal Market Tracker: Pricing, Volumes, and Delivery Data. Retrieved from https://www.cdr.fyi
• Solidia Technologies. (2025). CO2 Curing Technology: Commercial Deployment and Emerging Market Licensing Summary. Piscataway, NJ: Solidia Technologies Inc.
• International Energy Agency. (2025). CCUS in Clean Energy Transitions 2025. Paris: IEA.
• Northern Lights JV. (2025). Annual Report 2024: Europe's First Open-Access CO2 Transport and Storage Infrastructure. Stavanger: Northern Lights JV DA.