Speaking at a CCS Association (CCSA) reception, Ed Davey said that a reformed EU ETS could be used to help meet the costs of building CCS plants, which currently remain high.
He said: “If we reform the EU ETS in the way we want to, there will be some money to fund that in the future.”
Davey also stated that CCS has a “critical role to play” in the keeping bills down and that Electricity Market Reform (EMR) was designed in such a way to allow CCS to participate.
He said: “If we’re going to ensure were going to keep energy bills as low as possible as we make this major transition to low carbon economy, were going to need competition.
“That’s not just between firms, but competition between technologies.
“That’s why we designed EMR the way we did and CCS has a critical role to play in that.”
The energy secretary also rebuked claims from Labour that the industrial applications of CCS technology have been “chronically ignored”.
Davey said: “One of CCS’s advantages as we decarbonise is that it would help heavy industry that would otherwise be difficult to decarbonise.
“It’s one of the reasons why we oversized the pipes , not just for power plants for emissions to go down, but we also believe industrial sites if they can catch their emissions to plug into that pipeline network.”