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Britain's gambling about carbon capture and storing facing the threat of treasury discounts after warnings from deputies that the “high risk” policy should be re -evaluated to ensure that they “can be available to taxpayers and consumers.”
The cabinet will go significantly Carbon capture Projects in reviewing spending this year, according to the people who have been aware of this process, with the recognition of the ministers that they will not achieve ambitious goals of new technology.
The government announced 21.7 billion pounds of financing for 25 years to capture carbon In October, the money only went to two regions – in Tesside and MERSEYSIDE – leaving projects in Humber and Scotland in a waiting list.
It is now possible that these other plans will get a short Sharif in the June spending review, according to the elderly government The numbers, which said the Treasury was compatible with the placing of more money in technology.
This comes at a time when MPS said in the General Accounts Committee of the House of Commons that the government's support for “uncomfortable technology is of its kind to reach zero zero is a great matter”, and warned that taxpayers would not benefit if carbon capture projects were successful.
Carbon capture and storage include carbon dioxide besieged when produced, pressure and pumping underground, and sometimes to exhausted oil tanks, to avoid its release in the atmosphere. There are questions about whether the CCS technology is commercially and practical on a large scale.
PAC said that the CCS show “will have a major impact on consumers and electricity bills in the industry” and urged the ministers to assess whether it will be accessible to everyone, given wider pressure on the cost of living.
The government said that the amount of 21.7 billion pounds for projects will be funded by a mixture of fees on energy bills and treasury financing. It aims to attract another 8 billion pounds of private investment.
But Sarah Jones, Minister of Energy, told the Public Energy Committee in December that the previous CCS goal for the conservative government is 20 million tons of CO₂ annually by 2030 is no longer investigation. ”In her message to the committee, Jones blamed insufficient financing By conservatives.
Carbon capture projects are scrutinized by Rachel Reeves, Chancellor, and Daren Jones, Treasury Secretary, as part of their review of all government spending, in June.
“People will have to realize that they will not be able to do all the things in the first chapter they adhered to. There will be no enough in the financial cover. They will look at things like capturing and storing carbon.”
Another of those familiar with the cabinet said that due to the narrow economic background, the issue for further investment in CCS was not yet clear. “We have to see whether it is working or not.”
Two people are familiar with the launch of projects that the sector was looking for a government leadership and a feeling of whether it was likely to be given priority to CCS plans.
“The government calls carbon capture technology has become an institution to achieve zero,” said Sir Jeffrey Clifton Brown, PAC. He added: “All early progress will be secured by taxpayers, who are not currently benefiting if the projects succeed.”
Ed Miliband, a climate change secretary, defended carbon capture, but the governmental informed say he sees development Sizewell C Nuclear Station As a top priority for him.
Carbon capture was promoted by the ministers as a decisive of regional growth strategy.
The government said in October that the first projects in Mersiside and Tyside “will pump growth into the industrial heart in the northwest and northeastern England.”
In December, Reeves He told the Financial Times It represents that green energy investments, including in capturing carbon, is one of its “big bet” on the economy behind the southeast.
Carbon capture proposals are very intertwined with the future of the current heavy industry in areas such as Hambar, according to three people familiar with the discussions between the energy sector and the government. “If you do not do it on Hambar,” one of the carbon captured added.
The Ministry of Energy Security said: “Carbon capture, use and storage is vital to increasing our energy independence, and the Climate Change Committee describes it as” a necessity and not an option “to reach our climatic goals.
“There is no way to protect our industrial hearts and secure the future of heavy industry in the United Kingdom without it.” The administration said that the decisions related to the publication of CCS in the future will be taken “in time.”
