Commenting on the Government’s decision to axe funding for carbon capture and storage (CCS), Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North and co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Carbon Capture and Storage, said:
“This is a kick in the teeth not just for the companies who have invested heavily to prove carbon capture technologies, but to everyone who has worked so hard to develop projects that would have made a huge difference to our emissions and paved the way for the creation of thousands of jobs.
“It is also a broken promise from George Osborne and the Tory party, who said explicitly in their general election manifesto that the money would be provided.
“How the Government can expect industry to simply fill a £1 billion gap I don’t know. But worse than that, it dashes the hopes of others like the Teesside Collective who are developing the first industrial CCS project in the country. The Chancellor clearly could not care less about the environment and the potential to create jobs in areas like Humberside, North East Scotland and Teesside.
It is clear now why the Minister had asked to postpone a meeting with the APPG to discuss the issues in January, so I hope we get an early opportunity to debate CCS and get an explanation from the Government on just how it can proceed without the promised £1 billion.”
