BILLOWING streams of whites and greys into the skyline, Teesside’s industrial landscape is instantly recognisable.

Like candy floss spread across the skyline, plumes of smoke and vapours emerge from factories.

It’s a very real reminder of how the sector supports the North-East economy and the livelihoods of thousands of workers.

For others, however, it’s an unfortunate blemish, a blot offering outsiders an easy visual reference point to ridicule the area.

But that could change.

A blueprint to make Teesside Europe’s clean air capital was unveiled last week by chemical and steel firms, who are hoping to secure funding for the Industrial Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) network.

The bold plan, from Teesside Collective, a group including chemical operators such as Lotte, Growhow and BOC, and Redcar steelmaker SSI UK, is backed by regional and national government, and aims to cut a quarter of the region’s annual CO2 emissions from 2024.

Officials say it would increase competitiveness among heavy energy users and safeguard nearly 6,000 jobs by capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and heavy industry and storing it underground, before it disappears into the atmosphere.

The longer term ambition could see 15 million tonnes of CO2 a year stored and 2,600 jobs created across the Tees Valley over the next 20 years.

The proposals have drawn a mixed response, with the Government hailing CCS’ potential and critics saying it will fall short of its grand promises.

However, projects are being launched around the globe to look at ways of developing cost-effective CCS.

The world’s first large-scale power sector CCS project, at Boundary Dam, in Canada, started in October last year, and is capable of capturing one million tonnes of CO2 every year.

Commissioning of a 582-megawatt power plant, in Mississippi, able to take three million tonnes of CO2 annually, is being carried out, with work due to start early next year, and another US site, in Houston, is expected to begin later in 2016.

Work is also being carried out into a potential scheme in Rotterdam.

For Dr Stan Higgins, chief executive of the North East Process Industry Cluster (Nepic), the support organisation for the chemicals sector, CCS’ potential is immense.

He said: “This could be a honeypot for businesses, and it is good Teesside is leading the way with the idea.

“If Rotterdam implements this, and we do not, there might be a migration from Teesside.

“But we can do this; it is engineering and process operations we understand, and we have all the necessary operations happening around our many processes here today, albeit on a different scale.

“Carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are a global problem, and without local projects we’ll make no headway with global warming.

“Even the most irascible of ostriches would have to have its head very deep in the sand not to know the chemical and related industries, like steel making, are very significant contributors to the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide.

“Predictions show the global chemical industry will double by 2030, and without lower carbon processing and the Teesside Collective, greenhouse gas emissions are predicted to double.

“However, lower carbon processing technologies might keep the emissions down to a 50 per cent increase.

“But, by a concerted governmental approach and the implementation of technologies, such as CCS, the global output of the chemical industry could double and the missions only rise by 15 per cent.

“So, in climate change terms, adoption of industrial CCS has to be a good thing.

“CCS will also support the local engineering supply chain during its construction and operation, and provide an experience base on which local companies can export CCS expertise to other locations, providing future export income.”

One such company is SSI UK, which has made more than eight million tonnes of steel since restarting production at the Redcar blast furnace in April 2012.

Cornelius Louwrens, SSI UK’s business director and chief operating officer, said: “We are very excited the Government sees this as being important.

“We see this as a key thing and we will support it to do whatever we can.

“Hopefully, that will help it lead to becoming a successful project.

“We want to be environmentally friendly and it would be lovely to see the North-East being the first to make a breakthrough in this area.”

For now though, Dr Higgins said much work must be carried out to push forward the Teesside Collective forward, warning the plans were still at an early stage and still requiring full support of governments globally to help bring them to fruition.

He added: “Teesside has the capability to do this and become a world-leading centre from which expertise can be exported.

“This is an industrial project that requires Government regulation and support to make it happen, it also needs governments to commit to the climate change agenda.

“We have got to keep the momentum going, keep this on the agenda, and hope the Government comes to a decision.”