CCUS: Rs 20,000 Crore Scheme for Net Zero Industry

Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) was explained in a government backgrounder on 27 October 2026 as the route to cutting emissions from industries that cannot simply switch to electricity. The paper treats carbon dioxide as a resource rather than only a waste gas, and ties the technology to the national goal of Net Zero by 2070.

Why hard-to-abate sectors need it

NITI Aayog has identified steel, cement, oil and gas, petrochemicals, chemicals and fertilisers as hard-to-abate sectors, because their carbon dioxide comes out of the process itself and not only from the fuel burnt. Emissions from these industries together with thermal power are expected to be close to 2,300 million tonnes a year by 2030. As of August 2026, fossil fuel based sources made up 45.12 per cent of installed power capacity, so the existing fleet must be cleaned up rather than abandoned.

How the chain works

Carbon dioxide is first separated from flue gases at the plant, then purified, dried and compressed. Pipelines usually move it, with ships used over longer distances. At the end it is either used, in enhanced oil recovery, urea, green methanol, concrete, food and beverages or algae based products, or injected deep underground into depleted oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline aquifers and basaltic rock. Coal gasification, which turns coal into syngas at temperatures of roughly 800 to 1,600 degrees Celsius, is paired with capture to make blue hydrogen.

The policy and project map

• Union Budget 2026-27 announced a CCUS scheme in February 2026, with Rs 20,000 crore over five years for power, steel, cement, refineries and chemicals.
• The Department of Science and Technology released its CCUS research roadmap in December 2025; NITI Aayog had put out a policy framework in November 2022.
• National CCUS Centres were set up in 2022 at IIT Bombay and JNCASR, Bengaluru, and the first integrated CCUS Field Laboratory opened at IIT Bombay in May 2026, able to capture up to 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide a day.
• Clusters are proposed for the Gujarat coast, the Odisha and Jharkhand belt and the North East, and India has worked with 13 partner countries under Mission Innovation.

ESTIC-2026

The release came as the second edition of the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave, ESTIC-2026, opened at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Organised by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research from 27 to 29 October 2026 on the theme Creative Minds, Catalyzing Science, Empowering Technologies, it spans 12 thematic areas and includes energy technologies such as carbon capture.