5 key takeaways from Wood Mackenzie’s CCUS Conference 2025

Wood Mackenzie hosted its third annual CCUS Conference on October 8-9 in Houston. With its global focus on project development, strategy, markets, new technology feasibility and economics, the event convenes some of the world’s most prominent CCUS developers and investors. Preceding the event, Wood Mackenzie hosted its inaugural CCUS Executive Summit that brought together 25 of the world’s leading CCUS and carbon management executives for two days of Chatham House discussions.  

Read on for the first takeaway, and complete the form to access the full conference summary. Full CCUS Executive Summit insights will be available in November for Lens Carbon subscribers and Summit attendees only.

1. Progress continues despite turbulent politics 

While decarbonisation efforts across several key sectors may appear to be slowing, global CCUS development continues.  

The US still leads capture capacity across North America – despite political uncertainty – with increasing interest in CCUS-integrated power generation to meet surging demands from data centre expansion. However, we expect accelerated project development in Europe, where comprehensive regulatory frameworks and targeted funding mechanisms are creating favourable conditions for CCUS deployment. 

Project developers confirm that combining tax credits with capture cost subsidies creates favourable policy environments but still emphasize concerns about incentive stability across changing governments for long-term investments. CCUS leaders also highlight export markets for low-carbon products and high-quality removals as essential revenue diversification beyond government incentives.  

Full value chain collaboration remains critical to connect CO2 sources with storage infrastructure. While transport and storage are typically less expensive than capture projects, developers still need to navigate complex cost structures, regulatory hurdles and public opposition. 

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