The SNP’s Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) spokesperson, Stephen Flynn MP, has hit out at the UK government over an ‘incomprehensible’ lack of clarity over the timeline for further Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) facilities.
Current UK government policy is to have 4 CCUS sites in service by the mid-2020s (Track 1) with a further two to be delivered later (Track 2).
The Scottish cluster of projects, including the Acorn site in the North East of Scotland – an area industry leaders have described as “ideally placed” to become hubs for emissions busting technology – were put on the reserve, Track 2, list.
In a letter to the Secretary of State for BEIS, the Aberdeen South MP warned the UK government is leaving “industry in the lurch” and pressed for urgent action to get new CCUS projects moving to secure energy jobs and hit net-zero targets.
Commenting, Stephen Flynn MP said:
“The OEUK report was explicit that urgent action is required from the UK Government to progress carbon capture and it reiterated the economic and environmental case for carbon capture in the North East of Scotland – something that was clear when the UK Government snubbed the Acorn site for Track-1 status.
“Despite the need for urgent action, the UK Government has yet to announce the timetable for the track-2 process leaving industry in the lurch and our net zero targets in jeopardy.
“Reserve status for the Acorn site is utterly meaningless if there is no process laid out for progression and certainty that the UK Government will take the Scottish cluster forward.
“Warm words will not suffice because the lessons of the UK Government’s track record on North East carbon capture tell us that such words ultimately end in betrayal.”
