Britain’s government is reportedly gearing up to unveil £22 billion worth of backing for the carbon capture and storage sector on Friday.
Two so-called carbon capture clusters will be granted funding by the government under the plan, according to the Financial Times.
This includes the HyNet scheme in the northwest, alongside the East Coast Cluster, which incorporates industrial areas around Teesside and the Humber.
Plans are for carbon capture technology to be fitted to the likes of factories and power plants in these areas, such as Drax Group (LSE:DRX), with emissions then being transported to depleted subsea oil and gas reserves.
Whitehall sources told the FT that the £22 billion commitment would form a long-term plan to support the sector spanning 25 years.
This would come as the UK aims to capture between 20 million and 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2030, representing a small dent in the UK’s estimated 384.2 million worth of emissions last year.
HyNet and the East Coast Cluster represent Britain’s Track 1 carbon capture projects, meaning they have been identified as being closest to gaining approval.
BP PLC (LSE:BP.), Equinor and TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TOT, EPA:TTE) are among those working on the eastern cluster, with Italy’s Eni involved at HyNet, alongside Essar.
Greenpeace UK’s policy director, Doug Parr, said: “For a government that is committed to tackling the climate crisis, £22 billion is a lot of money to spend on something that is going to extend the life of planet-heating oil and gas production.
“It’s absolutely vital that the government does commit to industrial investment and job creation as we tackle the climate crisis, but it needs to be the right sorts of industries.
“Carbon capture may be needed for hard to abate sectors, such as cement production, however, hydrogen derived from gas is not low-carbon and there is a risk of locking ourselves into second-rate solutions, especially as the oil industry could easily hoover up most of the money to continue business as usual."
He called for the bulk of the cash should be invested instead in creating new jobs in the green industries of the future such as offshore wind, or a home insulation programme to reduce the need for gas central heaing.