Procurement
CCU/S technology has been recognized by many regional-level statements and roadmaps in ASEAN, including the ASEAN Strategy for Carbon Neutrality, ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to the 30th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP30) in Brazil, the Joint Statement of the 43rd ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) in Kuala Lumpur, and the ASCOPE Charter Aspiration. These statements call for accelerated adoption, scale-up, and advancement of CCU/S technologies and infrastructure, as well as coordinated development of regional policies and regulations. The technology is expected to help hard-to-abate sectors decarbonise and support the development of green value chains such as blue hydrogen production.
However, despite this potential, planning, and expectations, CCU/S application in ASEAN's large industries remains limited by several factors. The challenges identified through events and studies by ACE are shown below:
- The Southeast Asia CCS Accelerator (SEACA) Workshop series (2023-2024), in collaboration with the Global CCS Institute, concluded that to achieve green value chains through CCU/S, governments need to support risk mitigation aspects, ensure stable cash flows, and provide investment incentives to attract private sector participation.
- A joint study with JOGMEC, "Opportunities and Challenges for CO₂ Transportation in ASEAN" (2024), found that most AMS have not yet established CCS-specific legal and regulatory frameworks due to difficulties in enacting national policies for emission reductions as policy enablers for CCS, limited development of CCS-specific laws and regulations, and uncertainty regarding the administration of CCS operations in some jurisdictions.
- The ASEAN CCS Deployment Framework and Roadmap (2024) identified that challenges behind the stagnation of CCU/S in ASEAN stem from economic viability conditions, long lead times, project complexity, and innovation gaps. The high cost of carbon capture and the disconnection between emission sources and storage access, driven by fragmented infrastructure and regulatory frameworks, have limited CCU/S project progress to the pilot stage.
- ACE’s study, "Harvesting Carbon: Exploring BECCS as a Climate Solution for ASEAN" (2025), found that bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), a combination of bioenergy and CCU/S, tends to face sustainability-related challenges in ASEAN. These challenges include resource availability and land-use constraints, technical and economic considerations, environmental and social dimensions, and infrastructure and logistics issues.
- The ASEAN CCS Updates series (2024 and 2025) noted that while CCU/S projects are progressing and the policy and regulatory landscape is evolving, there remains a significant gap between project requirements and government incentives needed to enable accelerated CCU/S deployment.
These challenges can be summarised as the lack of integrated,
interconnected CCU/S facilities that could create economies of scale, and the
need for policies and regulations that make projects economically viable and
attract participation from both government and the private sector.
The creation and mapping of CCU/S hubs that effectively connect emitter clusters, transport facilities, storage sites, and CO₂ utilisation industries can provide clear direction on infrastructure development priorities, investment opportunities, and regulatory requirements needed to advance CCU/S deployment in the region.
The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) invites interested consultants, firms, and organisations to participate in the Aanwijzing Session (Project Briefing Session) to learn more about the ASEAN–Canada CCU/S Hubs project:
Date & Time: Nov 3, 2026 03:00 PM (GMT+7)
Registration Link: https://go.aseanenergy.org/Aanwijzing-CCUS-Zoom