New Delhi: On December 2, 2025, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, unveiled the country’s first dedicated R&D Roadmap for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), marking a milestone in India’s journey toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
The roadmap was launched by Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India.
This roadmap is being hailed as a “game-changer” — a coordinated strategy to mobilize research, technology deployment, regulatory frameworks, and investments to deploy CCUS at scale across India’s key heavy-industry sectors.
Background of CCUS roadmap
CCUS refers to a suite of technologies that capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from major industrial and power-generation sources (such as coal plants, cement factories, steel mills), and either store it deep underground or repurpose it for industrial use — thereby preventing it from entering the atmosphere.
For a rapidly developing economy like India — with an industrial backbone heavily reliant on coal, cement, steel, and other energy-intensive sectors — CCUS presents one of the few viable pathways for deep decarbonization. Alternative clean-energy transitions are underway, but for “hard-to-abate” sectors, CCUS remains essential.
The strategic importance of CCUS grows even more against India’s commitments under its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): a 45% reduction in emission intensity by 2030, a growing share of non-fossil installed capacity, and ultimately, achieving Net Zero emissions by 2070.
Major Announcement Under CCUS Roadmap
The roadmap — titled “R&D Roadmap to Enable India’s Net Zero Targets through CCUS” — draws on nearly seven years of prior CCUS research and pilot studies in India, as well as guidance from a High-Level Task Force (HTF).
It sets out a coordinated national strategy — combining research, demonstration, infrastructure development, and policy frameworks — to accelerate deployment of CCUS technologies across the country.
Dual Focus: Near-Term Commercial Readiness + Breakthrough Innovation
One of the roadmap’s strengths is its balanced approach:
- On one hand, it aims to advance existing CCUS technologies toward commercial readiness — enabling deployment in real-world industrial contexts, especially in hard-to-abate sectors.
- On the other hand, it supports breakthrough R&D for next-generation CCUS solutions — recognizing that long-term sustainability requires technological innovation beyond current capabilities.
Creating Public-Private Partnerships and Industrial Test Beds
To ensure practical, scalable deployment, the roadmap envisages establishing CCUS test beds in real industrial environments — especially in sectors like power, steel, and cement — using public–private partnership (PPP) models.
These test beds will help validate CCUS technologies, evaluate operational challenges, and build confidence among industries to adopt CCUS at scale.
- Enabling Frameworks: Human Capital, Infrastructure, Regulation
- Beyond technology, the roadmap underscores the importance of enabling frameworks for success:
- Developing skilled human capital trained in CCUS-related research, operations, and safety protocols.
- Establishing regulatory and safety standards — vital for CO₂ storage, transport, and long-term liability management.
- Creating early-shared infrastructure, to reduce entry barriers for industries looking to adopt CCUS.
Why This Roadmap Is a Game-Changer
- By launching this roadmap, India — via DST — is sending a strong signal: CCUS is no longer a niche research topic, but a central plank in the nation’s decarbonization strategy. This institutional prioritization could unlock investments, industrial partnerships, and accelerate deployment timelines.
- Analyses show that decarbonizing sectors like cement and steel — which emit CO₂ as a by-product of chemical processes, not just fuel combustion — requires technologies like CCUS. For example, in the cement sector — pivotal for urban infrastructure — CCUS is projected to be one of the dominant levers to reach net-zero by 2070.
- According to assessments, to significantly contribute to India’s net-zero ambition, CCUS will need to capture a substantial portion of “capturable” emissions — potentially hundreds of million tonnes per annum by mid-century.
If implemented at scale, CCUS in India could:
- Substantially cut national industrial CO₂ emissions
- Enable continued industrial growth while decarbonizing heavy sectors
- Position India as a global player in carbon-management technologies and climate innovation
Key Challenges Ahead & Roadmap’s Critical Role
While the roadmap is an important step, real-world deployment of CCUS worldwide — and in India — faces several known challenges:
- High Capital Costs & Energy Penalty: Capturing and compressing CO₂, transporting it, and storing it underground is energy-intensive and expensive. CCUS systems often require additional energy compared to conventional processes.
- Infrastructure and Logistics: Large-scale CO₂ transport pipelines or shipping infrastructure, secure underground storage sites, monitoring systems require long lead times and substantial planning.
- Regulatory, Safety and Liability Frameworks: Long-term storage of CO₂ underground introduces questions around liability, safety, leakage risks, and public acceptance — requiring clear regulatory frameworks and governance mechanisms.
- Financial Viability and Incentives: Without incentives or supportive policy mechanisms (like carbon credits, tax breaks), CCUS may remain financially unviable for many industries.
That is why the new roadmap’s emphasis on supportive frameworks — from human capital to regulatory standards to infrastructure — is so critical. It gives India a structured pathway to tackle these hurdles.
What’s Next: Implementation, Partnerships, and Scaling
With the roadmap in place, the next phase involves:
- Rolling out CCUS test beds in industries like power, cement, and steel via public–private partnerships.
- Mobilizing investment — including possibly through public funding, incentives, and leveraging private sector innovation, under schemes like the ₹1 Lakh Crore Research, Development & Innovation (RDI) initiative announced by DST.
- Building regulatory and safety frameworks to govern CO₂ storage, transportation, and long-term monitoring.
- Investing in human resources and infrastructure — training researchers and engineers, developing CCUS-ready industrial infrastructure, establishing shared CO₂ transport/storage pipelines or clusters.
- Encouraging collaboration across academia, industry, government, and international partners — since CCUS is globally relevant and benefit from cross-border experience and technology transfer.
Given the magnitude of India’s industrial footprint, and the scale of emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, the coming 5–10 years will be crucial in determining whether this roadmap remains aspirational or becomes transformative.
Significance for India’s Climate & Development Vision
- The new CCUS roadmap aligns with India’s broader vision of a “Viksit Bharat@2047” — combining rapid industrial and economic growth with sustainability and environmental responsibility.
- CCUS offers a pathway for India to grow without abandoning industrial strength — by decoupling carbon emissions from economic development.
- If India succeeds, it can emerge as a global leader in carbon-management technologies — exporting expertise, attracting climate investments, and demonstrating how emerging economies can chart a sustainable, carbon-conscious growth trajectory.
