Keir Starmer will commit £22 billion to UK carbon capture projects | Politics

The Prime Minister has committed almost £22 billion to developing projects to capture and store greenhouse gas emissions from energy, industry and hydrogen production.

Funding for two ‘carbon capture clusters’ in Merseyside and Teesside, promised over the next 25 years, is expected to create and support thousands of jobs, attract private investment and help the UK meet its climate targets.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the move would “reinvigorate our industrial hearts by investing in the industries of the future”, as he announced alongside Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is a technology that captures emissions from the combustion of fuels for energy or from industrial processes such as cement production and uses or transports them for permanent storage underground – for example in disused oil fields under the sea.

People such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Committee on Climate Change see this as a key element in achieving targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause dangerous climate change.

While it has long been promoted as part of the solution – with Energy and Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband first announcing plans to develop carbon capture projects for power stations in 2009, under the last Labor government – and uses well-tested technology, little progress has been made in this regard in the UK.

The funding of up to £21.7 billion over 25 years focuses on grants for three projects in Teesside and Merseyside as they start capturing carbon from hydrogen, gas power and energy from waste, to support cluster development, including infrastructure transport and store coal.

The government said the move would give the industry confidence to invest in the UK, attracting £8 billion of private investment, directly creating 4,000 jobs and providing long-term support for 50,000.

Officials say it will also help remove 8.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, with the first carbon dioxide stored from 2028.

Sir Keir said: “For the last 14 years, business has been in no doubt that the government is dysfunctional and this has caused the economy to go backwards and worse.

“Today’s announcement will give the industry the certainty it needs – committing to 25 years of funding for this breakthrough technology – to help create jobs, boost economic growth and fix this country once and for all.”

But Greenpeace UK policy director Doug Parr said £22 billion “is a lot of money for something that will extend the life of oil and fuel gas production.”

While he acknowledged that the government’s commitment to industrial investment and job creation while tackling the climate crisis is crucial, “it has to be the right kind of industry.”

“Carbon capture may be needed in sectors where reducing emissions is difficult, such as cement production; However, hydrogen from gas is not low-emission and there is a risk of locking us into second-class solutions, especially since the oil industry could easily raise most of the money to continue operating at current levels.”

He called for most of the money to be invested in creating new jobs in sectors such as offshore wind or implementing a nationwide home insulation program to cut bills.