Labour needs to back Scotland's carbon capture project to help save North East
Carbon capture and storage technology is a majority economic opportunity, and is also necessary in the fight against climate change
In 1972 – years before climate change became a mainstream concern – the world’s first carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) system began operating at a gas processing plant in Terrell, Texas. The idea was not to reduce carbon emissions but, instead, to use it for ‘enhanced oil recovery’.
Since then, hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide have been safely captured and stored by dozens of facilities around the world. So it can be done. However, hopes that it can be used at scale to allow fossil fuels to be burned without fuelling the fires of global warming rest on whether this will ever be economically viable.
Environmentalists have long been suspicious about CCS, viewing it as a device used by the oil industry to fob off demands to cut carbon emissions – ‘don’t worry, a fix is just round the corner’. However, with the passage of time, climate scientists have realised that CCS is going to be necessary. A recent report by an International Panel on Climate Change working group said “the deployment of carbon dioxide removal... is unavoidable if net-zero greenhouse gas emissions are to be achieved”.
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An economic opportunity
CCS or CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage) is also about more than reducing emissions. It represents a huge economic opportunity. And, given the oil industry expertise built up over decades, there is surely no place better suited to take advantage of that opportunity in the UK than its oil capital, Aberdeen. Yet both the Conservative and Labour governments have been reluctant to provide the necessary funding for the pioneering Acorn project at St Fergus, Aberdeenshire.
However, UK energy minister Michael Shanks has now told The Scotsman: “We have to start planning for the future and that does mean building up CCUS, hydrogen, renewables, bringing opportunities to Aberdeen and the wider North East.” This may offer some hope but there have also been reports the Chancellor will cut carbon capture funding next month.
Efficient carbon capture technology offers a chance to protect the jobs, livelihoods and communities of the North East, instead of allowing them to be thrown away. Both the UK and Scottish governments should be working night and day to ensure they take that chance.
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