‘Mammoth’ Plant Captures CO2 From Air And Turns It To Stone (Image: Getty)
The Prime Minister has pledged nearly £22 billion in funding to develop projects to capture and store carbon emissions from energy, industry and hydrogen production.
It is hoped the funding for two “carbon capture clusters” in Merseyside and Teesside, promised over the next 25 years, will create and support thousands of jobs, draw in private investment and help the UK meet climate goals.
Prime Minister Sir claimed the move was “reigniting our industrial heartlands by investing in the industry of the future”, as he made the announcement with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is a technology which captures the emissions from burning fuels for energy or from industrial processes such as cement production, and uses or transports them for storage permanently underground – for example, in disused oil fields under the sea.
It is seen by the likes of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Climate Change Committee as a key element in meeting targets to cut the greenhouse gases driving dangerous climate change.
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While it has long been championed as part of the solution – with Energy and Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband first announcing plans to develop carbon capture projects for power plants in 2009 during the last Labour government – and it uses well-tested technology, little progress has been made on it in the UK.
Funding of up to £21.7 billion over 25 years focuses on subsidies to three projects in Teesside and Merseyside, once they start capturing carbon from hydrogen, gas power, and energy from waste, to support the development of the clusters, including the infrastructure to transport and store carbon.
The Government said the move would give industry confidence to invest in the UK, attracting £8 billion of private investment, directly creating 4,000 jobs and supporting 50,000 in the long term.
It will also help remove 8.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, officials said, with the first carbon dioxide being stored from 2028.
Sir Keir said: “For the past 14 years, business has been second-guessing a dysfunctional government – which has set us back and caused an economic slump.
“Today’s announcement will give industry the certainty it needs – committing to 25 years of funding in this ground-breaking technology – to help deliver jobs, kickstart growth, and repair this country once and for all.”
But Greenpeace UK’s policy director, Doug Parr, said £22 billion “is a lot of money to spend on something that is going to extend the life of planet-heating oil and gas production”.
While he acknowledged it was vital the Government commitment to industrial investment and job creation while tackling the climate crisis, “it needs to be the right sort of industries”.
“Carbon capture may be needed for hard to abate sectors, such as cement production; however, hydrogen derived from gas is not low-carbon and there is a risk of locking ourselves into second-rate solutions, especially as the oil industry could easily hoover up most of the money to continue business as usual.”
He called for the bulk of the money to be invested in creating new jobs in sectors such as offshore wind or rolling out a nationwide home insulation programme to cut bills.