Unlock the publisher’s digest free
Roula Khalaf, editor -in -chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The British bet on carbon capture and storage technology is faced with the threat of cash flow sections following the warnings of deputies that the “high risk” policy should be reassessed to ensure that it is ” affordable for taxpayers and consumers ”.
The Treasury will strongly examine carbon capture projects when examining this year’s expenses, according to people informed of the process, ministers admitting that they will not achieve ambitious objectives for new technology.
The government announced 21.7 billion pounds of funding for more than 25 years for the capture of carbon in October, but money only went to two regions – in Teesside and Merseyside – leaving projects in Humber and Scotland in a queue.
These other programs should now obtain a short circuit in the expenditure examination of June, according to figures from the higher government, which said that the Treasury would run to put more money in technology.
He came as deputies within the public account committee of the House of Commons said that government support for “unproven technology and the first of its kind to reach zero net is at high risk” and has Warned that taxpayers would not be concerned with benefiting if the carbon projects have succeeded.
Carbon capture and storage consists in trapping carbon dioxide as it is produced, compressing it and pumping it underground, sometimes in reservoirs of oil and impoverished gas, to prevent it from being released in the atmosphere. There are questions about the question of whether CCS technology is commercially and practically viable on a large scale.
The CAP said that the deployment of the CCS “would have a very significant effect on consumers and electricity bills of the industry” and urged ministers to assess if it would be affordable, given wider pressures on the cost of living.
The government said that the 21.7 billion pounds sterling for projects will be funded by a mixture of samples from energy bills and the financing of the Treasury. It aims to attract another 8 billion pounds of private investment.
But Sarah Jones, Minister of Energy, told the Energy Committee of the municipalities in December that the objective of the CCS of the previous conservative government 20 minutes to 30 minutes of tonnes of Co₂ annually by 2030 was ” more feasible ”. In his letter to the committee, Jones blamed inadequate funding by the conservatives.
Carbon capture projects are examined by Rachel Reeves, Chancellor, and Darren Jones, chief secretary of the Treasury, as part of their examination of all public spending, ending in June.
A person informed of the treasure thought said: “People will have to realize that they will not be able to do everything that has committed to the first mandate. There will not be enough in the tax packaging. They will look at things such as carbon capture and storage. »»
Another Treasury initiate said that given the close economic backdrop, the case of a significant investment in the CCS was not yet clear. “We have to see if it works or not.”
Two people familiar with the deployment of projects said that the sector was looking for government leadership and that new CCS programs were likely to be priority.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, president of the CAP, said: “The government plays on carbon capture technology which becomes fundamental to reaching zero net.” He added: “All early progress will be subscribed by taxpayers, who are not currently to benefit if projects succeed.”
Ed Miliband, secretary of climate change, defended the capture of carbon, but the initiates of the government say that he considers the development of the nuclear power plant of Sizewell C as its absolute priority.
Carbon capture has been promoted by ministers as essential to their regional growth strategy.
The government said in October that the first Merseyside and Teesside projects “would inject growth into the industrial hearts of the northwest and northeast of England”.
In December, Reeves told Financial Times that Green Energy Investments, including in the capture of carbon, represented one of its “big bets” on the economy beyond the southeast.
Carbon capture proposals are also strongly linked to the future of heavy industry existing in fields such as The Humber, according to three familiar people with discussions between the energy sector and the government. “If you don’t do it on the Humber,” added a carbon capture, “you do not hit the net zero 2030 target.”
The Department of Energy Security said: “Capture, use and storage of carbon is essential to stimulate our energy independence, and the climate change committee describes it as” necessity and not an option “to achieve our objectives climatic.
“There is no way to protect jobs in our industrial heart and ensure the future of heavy industry in the United Kingdom without it.” The ministry said that the decisions concerning the future deployment of the CCS would be taken “in due course”.
