Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) is a pivotal avenue to achieving net-zero energy by 2030. However, the effective deployment of CCUS in Alberta and across Canada faces complex challenges. The lack of a shared understanding of these challenges results in fragmented interventions and hampers the growth of the CCUS ecosystem. To address this issue, the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) undertook a project to articulate the most critical pain points faced by actors in Alberta’s CCUS ecosystem, and to identify opportunities where the EFL is best positioned to focus collective action. A four-month process was designed and executed by an EFL-led working group to co-determine and stress test stakeholders’ key challenges hindering the safe, sustainable, and effective deployment of CCUS projects in Alberta.

Through a series of focused workshops and one-on-one interviews with CCUS ecosystem stakeholders, the working group identified five strategic areas that represent potential opportunities where collective action can help to further CCUS projects in the province.