He said it was a \u201cnational embarrassment\u201d that the government had earmarked \u00a324bn to support a series of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects developed by big oil companies, including BP and the Norwegian state oil company Equinor, and urged ministers to \u201cput things right\u201d.<\/p>\n
Environmentalist Chris Packham said the technology provided \u2018ludicrously uncertain results\u2019. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt\/PA<\/p>\n
\u201cCCS is a tech fairytale,\u201d the naturalist and broadcaster said. \u201cIt should be a national embarrassment<\/a> that the UK is pumping more taxpayer money into it than any other country in the world. This budget is a chance to put things right.\u201d<\/p>\n The intervention comes as the government reportedly plans to reduce the grants available to households hoping to swap their gas boiler for an electric heat pump<\/a>. This shift is considered crucial to cutting the carbon emitted when heating buildings, which makes up around a fifth of the UK\u2019s total greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n Packham called on the government to safeguard funding promises \u201cthat empower households to lower bills\u201d rather than \u201cbankrolling exorbitantly expensive projects with ludicrously uncertain results\u201d.<\/p>\n The leaders of many economies have backed carbon capture technology designed to trap the emissions from fossil fuel infrastructure before they are released into the atmosphere. Proponents believe that piping carbon dioxide into underground storage could provide a permanent climate solution<\/a> for industries that are unable to replace fossil fuels with cleaner alternatives.<\/p>\n Although there are instances where the technology has worked successfully, many high-cost projects have struggled to progress and there are many examples where carbon savings have proved to be far less than expected. Green groups fear the technology has been promoted by fossil fuel companies to prolong the use of fossil fuels<\/a>.<\/p>\n Packham said a failure to rein in the planned CCS spending \u201cwould be yet another strong signal that this government is putting big oil above people and the planet\u201d.<\/p>\n Aled Dilwyn Fisher, a senior researcher at Oil<\/a> Change International, said: \u201cIt\u2019s worrying that spending on climate is being cut in favour of defence, but cutting support for proven climate solutions while continuing to bankroll unreliable carbon capture projects would add insult to injury.<\/p>\n \u201cThis budget should be an opportunity to put public money where it can make a real difference to the climate and help cut people\u2019s energy bills, rather than continuing to gamble billions on the fossil fuel industry\u2019s latest expansion plan.\u201d<\/p>\n Work on the UK\u2019s first CCS projects has begun at the East Coast Cluster near Teesside and Humberside, in north-east England, and at the HyNet Cluster near Merseyside and north Wales, in north-west England.<\/p>\n The second phase of the government\u2019s CCS support plan includes \u00a3200m to support the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire, alongside \u00a380m from the Scottish government.<\/p>\n
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