The Hidden Story in 91 BECCS Plants: What the Data Actually Tells Us About Carbon Removal

There are 91 unique Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) plants spread across nine countries. Most climate discussions focus on solar and wind. But our analysis of the Global BECCS Plant Database — now available on Energy Data Insights — reveals a more nuanced and surprising picture. The Numbers at a Glance !BECCS KPI summary: 91 unique plants, 50 operational, 41 planned, 30.7 MMt/yr CO2 capture Four numbers define the current state of the global BECCS industry: 91 unique plants tracked across 9 countries, split between 50 operational and 41 planned — the sector is in active build-out, with nearly as much future pipeline as installed capacity. Together they represent 30.7 million metric tonnes per year of potential CO₂ capture. The US Builds. The UK Captures. !Bar chart: BECCS plants by country — US leads with 71 plants The United States accounts for 71 of the 91 plants — nearly 78% of the global total. By that measure it looks like an overwhelming leader. But zoom into CO₂ capture capacity and the story flips entirely. !Bar chart: CO2 capture capacity by country — UK leads at 9.4 MMt/yr despite having just 7 plants The United Kingdom leads with 9.4 MMt/yr of capture capacity, well ahead of the US at 16.1 MMt total — but from just 7 plants compared to 71. UK plants are purpose-built, industrial-scale capture facilities. The US plant base is vast but dominated by smaller ethanol operations where carbon capture is a secondary add-on. Fewer plants. Proportionally far more impact per facility. Ethanol Counts. Power and Heat Captures. !Horizontal bar chart: BECCS plants by sector — Ethanol dominates with 65 plants Ethanol plants make up 65 of the 91 facilities (71%). Corn ethanol fermentation naturally produces a pure CO₂ stream, making carbon capture relatively cheap to bolt on. But when you measure total annual capture capacity by sector, a different leader emerges. !Horizontal bar chart: CO2 capture capacity by sector — Power and Heat leads at 11.5 MMt/yr Power and Heat pulls ahead with 11.5 MMt/yr from just 12 plants — compared to ethanol's 14.5 MMt/yr from 65 plants. Per plant, a Power and Heat BECCS facility captures roughly 3× more CO₂ than an ethanol plant. This is where the real decarbonisation muscle lies. A Sector in Transition !Stacked bar chart: operational vs planned plants by sector The stacked view tells the growth story. Ethanol's pipeline is maturing (41 operational, 24 planned). Power and Heat is building fast (4 operational, 8 planned — doubling its base). Waste-to-Energy is set to quintuple (1 → 5 plants). New sectors — Renewable Fuels, Biogas — have no operational plants yet but are actively building pipelines now. A Deployment Surge Is Underway !Area chart: plant start year distribution, showing peak in 2008 and new surge from 2024 The start-year chart shows the industry's rhythm. A first wave peaked in 2008 with 12 plants, stalled through the 2010s, and is now building toward a second surge from