The UK has committed up to $28.5 billion for carbon capture projects
The government announced on Friday that it will invest up to 21.7 billion pounds (up to $28.5 billion) in 25 years for the development of carbon capture and storage technology to reduce emissions from energy, industry, and hydrogen production.
Britain has set a target of achieving net zero emissions in 2050. CCS is needed to reduce emissions from industries that are energy-intensive and to create jobs.
In a press release, Chancellor of Exchequer Rachel Reeves stated that "this game-changing technology" will bring 4,000 jobs to communities in Merseyside & Teesside as well as billions of dollars of private investment.
CCS is the process of capturing emissions from industry and power plants to store them underground. Although the technology is available, projects have not taken off globally due to high costs or concerns about how much carbon was captured.
The Conservative government of Britain, which was ousted in July, had promised in 2023 20 billion pounds in CCS funding. However, this money was never awarded.
The government announced that the two sites in Northern England would have a combined carbon capture capability of 8.5 millions metric tons per year. This is equivalent to taking four million cars off the roads.
HyNet NorthWest cluster in Merseyside aims to capture emissions of industrial plants, and store them on depleted gasfields in the Irish Sea. The consortium is led by Italian energy giant Eni.
Claudio Descalzi, Eni's CEO, said that "HyNet...will decarbonise a key industrial district in the UK as well as unlocking significant economic growth" in the region.
Equinor, BP and other oil and gas companies are developing a project on Teesside to store captured emissions in the North Sea.
Green groups have criticised this decision.
Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK policy director, said: "For a Government that is committed in tackling climate change, 22 billion pounds are a lot to spend on something which will extend the life-span of planet-heating gas and oil production." ($1 = 0.7625 pounds)
(source: Reuters)
