The SNP has called for the Chancellor to “finally deliver long-overdue funding for Scottish carbon capture at the spring budget on 26th March” – as business leaders write to Rachel Reeves warning that the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire must be treated as an “immediate priority”.
The letter states that “there is no route for Scottish industry to decarbonise, threatening jobs and investment” with signatories including the CBI, Prosper, the Institute of Directors, Scottish Financial Enterprise, Scottish Chambers of Commerce and Sir Ian Wood.
Studies show that the project could add £17.7 billion to UK GDP by 2050, deliver more than 10,800 jobs during construction and sustain 4,700 long-term operational roles while the signatories also argue that a decision on Acorn now will “unlock the next phase of industrial decarbonisation for Grangemouth”.
Scottish carbon capture has suffered two decades of broken promises at the hands of the UK Government – after first being pledged in 2005 by Gordon Brown.
In 2021, the project situated at St Fergus near Peterhead, was snubbed at the Track-1 stage of funding and instead given ‘reserve status’.
This followed a previous funding snub in 2015 when the Tories withdrew £1billion from Peterhead despite promising the investment ahead of the 2014 independence referendum.
In July 2023, then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited the site and pledged support to the project, but little has moved forward since.
Last year, the Labour Government snubbed Scotland again when it confirmed £22bn for two carbon capture sites in England – leaving the Scottish Cluster hanging in the balance again.
It was reported that, according to senior government figures, the Acorn site is among schemes that are now likely to get “short shrift” from the Treasury.
With the UK spring budget on 26th March, SNP Economy and Energy spokesperson, Dave Doogan MP, has demanded funding is finally delivered for the Scottish site.
Commenting, SNP Economy and Energy spokesperson Dave Doogan MP said:
“Scotland has been promised carbon capture investment for two decades but, instead of delivering funding, successive Labour and Tory UK governments have snubbed Scotland and broken their promises.
“By continuing to dither and delay, the Labour government is damaging Scotland’s economy, blocking progress to net zero, and putting Scottish jobs and investment at risk.
“The time for excuses is over.
“Rachel Reeves must finally deliver long-overdue funding for Scottish carbon capture at the spring budget on 26th March – or it will be yet another betrayal by the Labour Party.
“The simple reality is – if you want to deliver Net Zero, grow the economy and help safeguard energy security then there is no project better placed than the Scottish Acorn project.
“Business leaders are absolutely right on this and it’s high time the UK Labour Government listened to the evidence and delivered the project – the industry in dire need of certainty from a UK Labour Government which has offered nothing outside of confusion and prevarication.
“If the Labour Government can’t invest in the most fundamental aspect of the Just Transition then any ambitions for net zero will remain a pipe dream.
“The days of warm words and rhetoric should have given way to firm financial commitment a long time ago so now it’s imperative that Westminster gives the green light for Scottish Carbon Capture as quickly as possible.
“It’s another chapter in the same old Westminster story where Scotland’s natural resources are treated as a cash cow and our potential is starved of proper investment – it’s high time Westminster supported Scotland’s energy future and funded the Acorn carbon capture project immediately.”
