The UK government has quietly announced the cancellation of funding for the development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology just five weeks from the deadline for bids.

The cancellation of the CCS competition was not part of the Spending Review presented by Chancellor George Osborne today, but announced in a release to the London Stock Exchange

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) declared that it will fully remove the £1 billion (€1.4 billion) available for a pioneering Carbon Capture and Storage competition scheme for power stations.

The scheme is in its final stretch with the two competing projects (white rose, Peterhead) very advance in planning and front end engineering and design.

These ground-breaking projects were set to enable deep decarbonisation of UK industry and energy, while laying the foundation for a CO2 storage sector of European importance.

Responding to the announcement Frederic Hauge, President of the Bellona Foundation said:

“This competition has led many private firms to invest time, people and capital in developing the UK as a leader in CO₂ capture, CO₂ transport and CO₂ storage. The knowledge and skills developed will be rapidly lost; wasting the opportunity of making the UK a global leader in a critical low carbon technology. In the final hours the UK has broken the trust with the engineers, specialists and farsighted companies that are desperately needed to develop CCS into a global deployed technology. The UK is rightfully earning a reputation for wasting people’s time”

More to follow.

Contact

Magnus Borgen

Head of Communications

magnus@bellona.no

+47 977 28 476