CCS should be used to decarbonise heavy industry, says Labour

The UK’s opposition Labour party on Wednesday pledged to make a string of reforms to get the carbon capture and storage industry “back on track”, including the use of CCS in decarbonising emissions intensive industries.

In a new position paper shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex said that the industrial applications of CCS technology have been “chronically ignored” by the incumbent government.

“Whilst there is a clear potential to fit CCS to coal and gas power stations, this technology also offers perhaps the only means of decarbonising some of our key industrial processes for which the consumption of fossil fuels is essential,” Greatrex said.

“We can derive electricity from the wind, but we will never make steel from sunshine,” he added.

Labour says that it sees its CCS reforms within the context of its wider policies to “rebalance” the economy, and its consistent call for a 2030 decarbonisation target.

The party plans include the decentralisation of £30 billion of public funding to give local authorities greater power to direct transport, housing and infrastructure developments in their region, while a new National Infrastructure Commission will report on the UK’s long-term infrastructure needs.

“Regional clusters of industrial and power users, making use of shared transportation and storage infrastructure, can demonstrate that decarbonisation is not at odds with industrial activity whilst also serving to rebalance our economy,” Greatrex said.

The paper follows news that the UK’s White Rose CCS project has secured €300 million of European Commission funding through the NER300 competition.

But Labour believes that more should be done to develop ‘non-competition’ projects in parallel to the White Rose and Peterhead schemes. The party adds that greater clarity surrounding the role of CCS within the Electricity Market Reform’s Contracts for Difference scheme is needed.

In addition, the paper also calls for the technology to be made a “core priority” for the Green Investment Bank, while a new North Sea regulator should be obliged to examine storage potential and help facilitate future projects.

At the same time though, Labour warned that the CCS industry should be prepared to demonstrate a clear trajectory of cost reduction. The technology should be cost-competitive with offshore wind by 2025 and onshore wind by 2030, the paper said.

“CCS has a limited future as a high-cost decarbonisation option,” Greatrex added.