Government U-turn on carbon capture

Any new coal power stations built in the UK will have to be fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, under new legislation proposed this week by climate change secretary Ed Miliband.

In addition, all existing coal plants must be retrofitted with CCS within five years of the technology being proved commercially viable.

A government spokesperson said the move was a ‘complete rewrite’ of government policy, which had previously been to approve new coal plants on the understanding that CCS would be retrofitted.

Announcing the move, Miliband said: “I believe that we need to signal a move away from the building of unabated coal-fired power stations, because it is right for our country to drive us towards low carbon as part of a progressive decarbonisation.”

Environmentalists, however, have reacted angrily to the scheme, accusing the government of placing its hope to reduce emissions in an unproven technology.

“It might work. It might not,” wrote George Monbiot in his Guardian blog.

Either way, Monbiot believes that “it is likely to be beset by a host of unforeseeable difficulties, which will almost certainly delay it and possibly derail it.”

Monbiot added that if CCS fails, the only option remaining for the government will be to close down the coal power stations at huge cost - money that could now be invested in researching renewable energy.

Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrats’energy spokesperson, warned that there is ‘no guarantee’ of coal stations ever being cleaned up if CCS proves nonviable.

“It’s a gamble that could lead to a climate change catastrophe,” Horwood said.