Government "floundering" as it rejects CCS technology in new law

The amendment was tabled by the Conservative frontbench yesterday (October 28), when MPs voted 463 to three in favour of the world’s first Climate Change bill being enacted.

However, climate change campaigners said the Government was left "floundering" over its policy on CCS, when the amendment was tabled last minute after failing to get a proper hearing as part of the Energy Bill in the House of Lords.

"The Labour frontbench has no answer on this issue," said a Friends of the Earth campaigner. "It was left floundering yesterday."

Joan Ruddock, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said including the amendment could threaten security of energy supply, potentially leading to electricity black-outs in the UK, but she didn't rule out looking at the issue again.

“We need new power stations,” she said, noting that 20 per cent of existing UK power stations will close by 2015 making the country “increasingly reliant on imported gas.”

CCS involves capturing the carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, transporting it and storing it in a secure geological facility. It promises to reduce carbon emissions by 90 per cent. However, it is not yet available at commercial scale and the Government is concerned that a law enforcing all new builds have the technology fitted could have the “perverse” effect of preventing more investment in cleaner power.

The Government has still not clarified its position on the controversial plan to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent by E.ON, and if the plan is given the go-ahead within the next few months there are fears among anti-coal campaigners that it could escape tougher European regulations.

Earlier this month, MEPs voted in favour of forcing energy companies to fit CCS technology. But the amended European Directive on Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide still has to get through two further levels of legislature at the European Parliament, and even if passed, could have limited effect on any power stations built in the UK before 2015.

An amendment to include aviation and shipping – viewed my many as a major loophole in the Climate Change legislation – was passed, however, yesterday. This means that shipping and aviation will now be part of the Government’s targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, although they will not be included in the Government’s Carbon Budget.

The UK's share of international shipping and aviation emissions accounts for 7.6 per cent of the UK's total carbon dioxide emissions.

The Climate Change bill will become law by December 1.