Can finance and policy unlock the carbon capture boom? | Recorded live at CCUS in Houston
Interchange Recharged
Wood Mackenzie
4.8 • 535 Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This special episode of Interchange Recharged brings together finance, law, and technology leaders shaping the path to commercial carbon capture. Host Sylvia Leyva Martinez explores how capital, regulation, and innovation are converging to turn early-stage CCUS projects into bankable reality.
The conversation opens with Omer Farooq, Head of Sustainable Asset Finance at Bank of America, on how one of the world’s largest banks is approaching carbon capture — from financing first-of-a-kind projects to assessing new business models and risk structures. Omer explains why point-source capture is already investable, why direct air capture still has hurdles to clear, and why incentives like 45Q remain the backbone of the economics. “Policy drives energy,” he says, “and transport and permitting are the next frontiers.”
Next, Liz McGinley, Partner at Bracewell LLP, joins to unpack the evolving U.S. regulatory landscape. She discusses the expanded 45Q tax credit, the lingering uncertainty around the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, and why the slow pace of pipeline permitting has become a bottleneck for deployment. Yet, she says, investor confidence is growing fast — driven by clarity on incentives and insurance mechanisms to manage geological risk.
Finally, Shahul Hameed, Vice President of Global Oil & Gas Measurement Instrumentation at Emerson, explains how technology is catching up with policy. He shares how decades of oil and gas expertise are being repurposed for CO₂ transport and storage, and how automation, measurement accuracy, and data integrity are helping to de-risk projects. From AI-driven analytics to mass-based metering, Shahul outlines how precision is becoming the new currency of CCUS.
From finance and legal frameworks to field-level innovation, this episode captures the mood on the ground in Houston — one of optimism, collaboration, and rapid evolution. As Sylvia concludes, “Finance follows certainty. The incentives are there, the technology is advancing, and the industry is learning fast.”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone. Welcome to the Interchange Recharge Podcast. We're recording live from Wood McKenzie's |
| 0:05.5 | CCUS conference here in Houston. I'm your host, Sylvia Leva Martinez. Over the next two days, |
| 0:11.4 | we're bringing you insights straight from the people shaping the future of carbon capture, |
| 0:16.2 | utilization and storage, CCUS, from financiers and legal experts to technology innovators and project developers. |
| 0:23.6 | In this episode, we kick things up with Omar Farouk, who leads us at Finance at Bank of America, |
| 0:29.6 | overseeing investments across sustainable, core, and digital infrastructure. |
| 0:34.6 | We talk about how one of the world's biggest banks is approaching carbon capture, |
| 0:39.3 | from financing first-of-a-kind projects to navigating the challenges of scale, transport, and risk. |
| 0:46.3 | Omer shares how point source capture is already bankable, |
| 0:49.3 | how director capture still needs to prove its economics, |
| 0:52.3 | and why policy incentives like 45Q are absolutely critical |
| 0:57.1 | to making CCUS projects work in today's market. |
| 1:00.4 | It's a fascinating look at how finance and policy are shaping the path to commercialization. |
| 1:05.9 | Let's dive into our discussion. |
| 1:08.3 | Wood McKenzie's Solar Energy and Storage Summit is back in Denver on the 29th and 30th of |
| 1:13.9 | April 26. It's co-located with the brand new North American Power and Renewables Forum, |
| 1:19.7 | which features senior speakers from across the U.S. power sector. Come and join over 450 senior |
| 1:26.3 | leaders from U.S. power developers, utilities, and independent power producers to tackle the industry's biggest challenges. |
| 1:34.6 | From navigating life after tax credits to capturing the load growth boom, discover how the energy mix is evolving and how the U.S. is going to meet that power demand. |
| 1:45.4 | Seats are limited, so register now at how the U.S. is going to meet that power demand. Seats are limited, |
| 1:51.4 | so register now at Woodmac.com. Omar, welcome to the interchange. I'm so happy to have it here. |
| 1:58.7 | Thank you for having me. So you work at Bank of America and you lead the CCUS investment side. |
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