Miliband warned carbon capture project faces collapse without £4bn injection

Yahoo

09-06-2025

A green technology project pioneered by Ed Miliband faces collapse without an additional £4bn in funding, industry chiefs have warned.
Olivia Powis, the chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, said the fledgling technology must receive support from Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, at her spending review on Wednesday despite having been recently awarded almost £22bn in public subsidies.
It wants the money – funded by consumers and taxpayers – to expand the two carbon-capture projects already approved by Mr Miliband, the Energy Secretary, and to kick-start two more, including one in Scotland.
Ms Powis said there was a 'critical need' for further funding commitments from the Government. She warned that, without the extra cash, even the two schemes approved by Mr Miliband may never go ahead.
She added: 'The UK supply chain is ready to respond with the skills, innovation and capabilities needed to make UK carbon capture a world-leading industry.
'But continued government commitment and a pipeline of future projects is essential to ensure that domestic suppliers can compete, scale up and create lasting jobs across the country – otherwise we will see investors and this industry go overseas.'
Approving the initial £21.7bn last autumn, Ms Reeves described it as a 'game-changing technology [that] will bring 4,000 good jobs and billions of private investment into communities across Merseyside and Teesside'.
However, MPs have warned that the technology is 'unproven' and 'high-risk'.
Jeremy Pocklington, the permanent secretary at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, told the public accounts committee last December that 75pc of the money to fund carbon capture would come from levies on consumer and business energy bills and the rest from taxes.
Experts warn that CO2 capture may only be 50 to 60pc efficient, meaning some CO2 still enters the atmosphere.
Projects backed by the Government so far include the HyNet scheme in Merseyside and Net Zero Teesside, for which contracts were signed last year.
The industry wants cash to expand those projects and add another two: the Acorn project on Scotland's east coast and the Viking project based in the Humber.
Mr Powis said: 'We estimate this new industry will create 50,000 new highly skilled jobs and retain another 50,000 jobs in existing industries like steel.
'It will contribute to new industries like sustainable aviation fuels, and generate a cumulative £94bn in value for the economy by 2050.'
But Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said the policy would add to consumer bills and do little for the environment.
He said: 'We should scrap this technology. This is an outrageous demands for unproven technology that will make zero difference to climate change. Even the Greens reject it.'
Carla Denyer MP, co-leader of the Green Party, added: 'Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being used as green-wash by the fossil fuel industry, allowing them to continue extracting coal, oil and gas.
'This technology is a distraction from what we should be focusing on, namely, boosting renewable energy and storage, energy efficiency and home insulation programmes and working with nature and land managers to capture carbon naturally.'
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