My Lords, it is me again. In moving Amendment 17, I shall speak also to Amendments 18, 20 and 26.

Amendment 17 would create a licensing regime fit for the future because it would ensure that there was the necessary consistency with the existing regulatory regime—the granting of geological storage licences by the Oil and Gas Authority, now the North Sea Transition Authority, under the Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Licensing etc.) Regulations 2010—and that it did not operate in isolation.

The amendment would future-proof the regulatory system by enabling private operators to develop merchant models to transport and store carbon dioxide in the longer term. That would enable cross-border transport and geological storage of carbon dioxide to develop in time without having to rely on exemptions being granted to allow private networks to develop.

Designing a new licensing regime to develop successful at-scale transport and storage networks for CCUS is challenging, and the industry welcomes the Government’s rapid work to develop that in the Bill. As we have seen in other regulated industries, the first licences awarded are likely to be very different from those awarded a few years down the line, and the economics of the technology and market drivers will change too. Ofgem, as the economic regulator, will therefore need to amend and refine licences as necessary and collaborate with other regulators, such as the NSTA, which is already able to award licences to operators to store CO2 under the Energy Act 2008.

If a merchant arrangement developed where a CO2 store was run privately outside of the regulated network, would that not be something to encourage, provided that the safety of the CO2 stored was regulated as it is presently by the NSTA? It would be sensible for the legislative framework to be sufficiently flexible to facilitate that.

The United Kingdom has significant geological assets, with one-third of Europe’s entire offshore CO2 storage potential. That is equal to that of all the other EU states combined; in Europe, only Norway has more. This enormous potential to offer CO2 storage services to European and other countries presents the opportunity for the UK to become a global leader in CCUS, as it should be, and accelerate the global efforts to prevent CO2 emissions. The legislative framework should avoid any future barriers to cross-border transportation of CO2.

Amendment 18 would ensure that all types of permanent storage were included in the Bill. As with Amendments 14 and 16, I repeat that geological storage is not the only type of permanent storage of CO2. As the noble Baronesses, Lady Worthington and Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, said, it can also be achieved by types of usage where the carbon dioxide is chemically bound in a product and not intended to re-enter the atmosphere. The Bill as it is currently written allows only for geological storage, so the amendment is intended to recognise that there are other methods of permanent storage. However, it is important to qualify in this drafting that it applies only to carbon capture and usage where it is intended to be permanent and therefore subject to monitoring and verification.

Amendment 20 specifically includes other modes of transporting carbon dioxide, such as shipping. The pipeline will be the primary form of transporting CO2 but other modes of transport, including ship and rail, are already being developed in the UK and in other jurisdictions. The Bill must therefore be designed in such a way as to not limit future modes of CO2 transportation. CO2 transport by ship is almost certain to be part of the Scottish and south Wales clusters—the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, is here today—and subsequent phases of other CCUS clusters.

The amendment would ensure that transportation by ship and all other means of transport were included in the Bill rather than leaving their inclusion to regulations. That would send a strong and positive signal to the investment community that there were no barriers to the UK’s development as a global CO2 shipping hub.

Amendment 26 is a point of clarification to ensure that if a licence termination event has arisen, the Secretary of State has the discretion to revoke the licence, as opposed to the current wording, which suggests that it would happen automatically. New regimes need a wee bit of flexibility, particularly when they are bedding down. The right—rather than the obligation—to terminate is a useful formulation when facing first-of-a-kind situations. I beg to move.