Switch off the editor’s digest free of charge
Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The British gambling for the Carbon Capture and the storage technology faces the threat of financial cuts according to the warnings of the MPs that the policy of “high risk” should be re -evaluated to ensure that it is affordable for taxpayers and consumers.
The Ministry of Finance will check strongly Carbon Projects in this year’s expenditure check, according to people who have been informed about the process, the ministers admitted that they will not achieve ambitious goals for the new technology.
The government announced £ 21.7 billion funds over 25 years for CO2 recording In October, but the money only went into a queue in Humber and Scotland in two regions – in tess ideas and Merseyside.
According to the senior, these other programs will probably get a short vice in the expenditure check in June Government Numbers who said that the Ministry of Finance was angry to bring more money into technology.
It happens that MPs from the Commons Public Accounts Committee from House of Commons said were successful.
The carbon cover and storage contains the capture of carbon dioxide, while it is generated, compressed and pumps underground, sometimes in stored oil and gas reservoirs to avoid being released into the atmosphere. There are questions about whether CCS technology is commercially and practical on a scale.
The PAC said that CCS’s rollout “would have a very significant impact on the electricity bills of consumers and the industry”, and asked the ministers to assess whether it would be affordable because the cost of living has extensive pressure.
The government has declared that the £ 21.7 billion for the projects is financed by a mixture of taxes for energy bills and funds. The aim is to attract another 8 billion GBP private investments.
But Sarah Jones, Minister of Energy, informed the Commons Energy Committee in December that the CCS goal of the previous conservative government was “no longer available” from 20 million to 30 million tons of CO₂ by 2030. In her letter to the committee, Jones accused insufficient financing of the Tories.
The Carbon Capture projects are examined by Rachel Reeves, Chancellor, and Darren Jones, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance, as part of their review of all government spending.
A person about the thinking of the Ministry of Finance said: “People have to recognize that they cannot do all things in the first term they have committed. It won’t be enough in fiscal packaging. You will look at things like CO2 recording and storage. ”
Another insider for finance ministries said that in view of the close economic background, the case was not yet clear to further major investments in CCS. “We have to see if it works or not.”
Two people who were familiar with the introduction of the projects said that the sector was looking for the government and the feeling of whether further CCS programs would probably be prioritized.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Pac Chair, said: “The government plays on CO2 capture technology, which becomes the net zero zero.” He added: “All early progress is signed by taxpayers at the moment do not benefit if the projects are successful. “
Ed Miliband, the secretary of climate change, has campaigned for CO2 conquest, but the government’s insiders say that he sees the development of the SizeWell C nuclear power plant as his top priority.
CO2 recording was promoted by the ministers as critical of their regional growth strategy.
In October, the government said that the first projects in Merseyside and Tesside “would give growth in the industrial core of the northwest and the northeast of England”.
In December Reeves told the Financial Times These green energy investments, including CO2 recording, represented one of their “big bets” on the economy beyond the southeast.
Suggestions for the Carbon Capture are also strongly intertwined with the future of existing heavy industry in areas such as the humber. According to three people who are familiar with discussions between the energy sector and the government. “If you don’t do it on the Humber,” added one of the Carbon Capture, “don’t meet the net zero destination from 2030.”
The Ministry of Energy Safety said: “The recording, use and storage of carbon is of crucial importance to increase our energy independence, and the climate change committee describes it as a” need not to achieve an option “in order to achieve our climate goals.
“There is no way to protect jobs in our industrial nuclear lands and to secure the future of heavy industry in Great Britain without them.” The department said that decisions about future CCS deployments would be taken “in due course”.
