• Analysis
Campaigners urge chancellor to cut £24bn carbon capture spending before budget
Campaigners led by Chris Packham have urged the chancellor to scale back the UK's £24bn carbon capture spending plans in this week's budget and redirect support to green schemes that cut emissions and lower bills.
An 11th-hour appeal led by the naturalist Chris Packham is pressing the Treasury to use this week's budget to trim the government's £24bn carbon capture spending plans and shift the money towards measures that cut emissions and reduce household bills.
An 11th-hour appeal
Packham said it was a national embarrassment that £24bn had been earmarked for carbon capture and storage projects developed by big oil companies including BP and Equinor. He called CCS a tech fairytale and said the UK is pumping more taxpayer money into it than any other country.
The planned UK outlay is larger than the combined carbon capture spending of the US, the EU, Norway and Japan, according to the campaigners.
"This budget is a chance to put things right."
Packham warned that failing to rein in CCS spending would send a signal that the government is putting big oil above people and the planet, and urged ministers instead to protect funding promises "that empower households to lower bills" rather than bankroll expensive projects with uncertain results.
What the UK's carbon capture plan covers
Carbon capture is designed to trap emissions from fossil fuel infrastructure before they reach the atmosphere. Supporters say piping carbon dioxide into underground storage could give industries unable to replace fossil fuels a permanent climate fix - an approach many world leaders have backed.
Work on the UK's first projects is under way:
- •The East Coast Cluster near Teesside and Humberside
- •The HyNet Cluster near Merseyside and north Wales
- •The Acorn project in Aberdeenshire, due £200m under the plan's second phase alongside £80m from the Scottish government
The case against CCS
Campaigners point out that many high-cost projects have struggled to progress, with carbon savings often falling far short of expectations. Green groups also fear the technology has been promoted by fossil fuel companies to prolong fossil fuel use.
The appeal lands as the government reportedly plans to reduce grants for households hoping to swap their gas boiler for an electric heat pump. Heating buildings makes up around a fifth of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions.
Aled Dilwyn Fisher, senior researcher at Oil Change International, said cutting support for proven climate solutions while bankrolling unreliable carbon capture projects would add insult to injury. The budget, he argued, should put public money where it makes a real climate difference and cuts energy bills.
"fantasy plans about turning the North Sea into Europe's carbon dumping ground"
That is how Rosie Hampton of Friends of the Earth Scotland described the climate response. She said politicians should instead back "climate solutions that will improve people's lives, such as warm homes, better public transport and decent green jobs".
Industry and government response
The Carbon Capture and Storage Association pushed back, saying the UK's first projects have awarded more than £4bn in supply-chain contracts, supporting about 350 UK companies and 5,500 construction jobs.
"Pulling back now would undermine investor confidence, risk leaving infrastructure underused and deepen industrial decline"
That warning came from Mark Sommerfeld, the CCSA's UK director, who added: "This budget must honour existing commitments, turning today's progress into lasting growth, energy security and reindustrialisation."
Martin McCluskey, parliamentary undersecretary at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said this month that the government remains committed to carbon capture but fiscal pressures may require decisions on the pace of development. The government has been contacted for comment, and this week's budget is the next point at which the chancellor is being urged to act on carbon capture spending.
