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£22 billion bet on carbon capture will lock in fossil fuels for decades
The government’s reliance on unproven and short-termist technology won’t deliver answers to today’s energy crisis, warns MARK MASLIN
Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on board the jack-up barge Excalibur during a visit to the Port of Holyhead, in North Wales, to renew the party's commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower. Mr Starmer will pledge to "turbocharge jobs and gro

THE British government has announced it will invest almost £22 billion in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects over the next 25 years. The technology works by capturing CO₂ as it is being emitted by a power plant or another polluter, then storing it underground. 

This sounds great in theory. However, it seems Labour has been swayed by the fossil fuel lobby, which has pushed CCS for years. This announcement represents a massive bet on a still unproven technology, and will lock Britain into fossil fuel dependence for decades to come. The Climate Change Act mandates that Britain should achieve net zero emissions by 2050, yet this will be impossible if carbon capture leads to Britain building new gas power stations instead of wind and solar farms.

Overpromising, underdelivering

Better ways to spend £22 billion

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