The provincial government is offering incentives to qualifying businesses, organizations and researchers to come up with carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) options.

Government has developed a CCUS challenge through the Department of Industry, Energy and Technology.

Up to $6 million in provincial government funding has been set aside for two streams of work.

Up to $3 million is available to support research and development, and another $3 million is available to support studies on the potential and feasibility of the province’s offshore to serve as a CCUS hub for carbon storage.

The province says the funding will support up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs toward the capture and use, or permanent underground storage of carbon offshore.

It’s another option on the table, along with reducing or eliminating carbon output, as nations strive to reach net zero emissions by the middle of this century.

There are currently no such CCUS options along the Eastern Seaboard of North America, but it is happening in the Alberta oilsands and elsewhere around the world, such as Norway.