A WESTMINSTER committee has warned that the UK Government’s last-minute decision to pull funding for carbon capture and storage (CCS) will delay development of the technology in the UK and could make the meeting of climate change commitments agreed in Paris “challenging”.
The warning came in a report from the Energy and Climate Change Committee, whose chairman, the SNP’s Angus MacNeil, said: “If we don’t invest in the infrastructure needed for carbon capture and storage technology now, it could be much more expensive to meet our climate change targets in the future.
“If the government is committed to the climate change pledges made in Paris, it cannot afford to sit back and simply wait and see if CCS will be deployed when it is needed.”
The committee said CCS technology was ready for large-scale pilots on power stations, but the transportation and storage infrastructure needed to carry the carbon dioxide required large upfront investments.
Projects in Peterhead and North Yorkshire had been cancelled because of the UK Government’s sudden decision to cancel its £1 billion commercialisation competition.
Its report warned that as a result the opportunity to develop CCS infrastructure in the UK in the early 2020s is likely to have been missed. The momentum that had built up over recent years had “suddenly come to a halt” and the industry and investors were losing confidence.
MacNeil added: “The manner in which the government pulled the plug on the CCS commercialisation competition was disappointing.
“UK companies had been working towards this for years and were only weeks away from final proposals.
“This is the latest in a series of snap decisions that have damaged confidence in the government’s energy policy.”
The report added that the government might have lost an opportunity to exploit existing oil and gas assets in the North Sea, which could have generated additional revenues. The committee inquiry had heard that empty North Sea oil fields could potentially store European industrial emissions for the next 100 years.
MPs on the committee are calling on the Department for Energy and Climate Change to assess the financial and other benefits of using existing North Sea oil and gas infrastructure to facilitate carbon capture and storage commercially.
MacNeil said: “The department must devise a strategy to ensure carbon capture and storage technology can start delivering carbon savings by the 2020s.”
“Only last week, ministers rejected the need for such a strategy, but the industry and investors are crying out for this certainty.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here