Carbon capture cuts condemned
14 Jan 2016 by Louisa Hearn
Prime minister David Cameron has been accused by UK ministers of double standards following recent cuts to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) funding.
On Tuesday, David Cameron appeared before the House of Commons Liaison Committee to face questions on his government’s approach to climate change and CCS.
Cameron had previously described CCS as "absolutely crucial" for the UK, but in November last year the government said it would scrap a £1bn competition for a large-scale trial CCS plant.
Ahead of the prime minister's appearance before the Liaison Committee, chairmen Huw Irranca-Davies and Angus MacNeil criticised Cameron for scrapping UK schemes aimed at cutting emissions, while pledging to protect the climate during the Paris talks.
Cameron, who has defended the decision on the basis of cost, said this week: “The economics [of CCS] at the moment really aren't working”.
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) has condemned the move as “a missed opportunity” and questioned how “such a decision could have been made before evidence had been submitted by the competition entrants”.
It also challenged the long-term credibility of the UK government’s energy policies and its ability to meet the climate change targets agreed in Paris.
While plans to replace coal-fired plants with gas-fired plants will reduce the UK’s carbon footprint, these will not deliver the reductions required to meet the long-term targets agreed in Paris, said the IChemE.
“The cancellation of CCS funding has resulted in the abandonment of two projects that were vital to the UK meeting its CO2 mitigation targets,” said vice chairman of the IChemE Energy Centre Board, Geoff Maitland.
“The decision has also undermined investor confidence in the reliability of public funding of energy projects in the UK,” he said.
IChemE Energy Centre Board chairman, Stefaan Simons, added: “To achieve the 1.5oC limit, CCS deployment must be progressed as an urgent priority. This will require proactive support from governments, but the Paris Agreement also demands behaviour change at a personal level; we must all face up to the fact that we will need to live our lives differently.”
