Chris Packham leads appeal for chancellor to scrap £24bn carbon capture spending
Campaigners led by Chris Packham are urging the chancellor to cut the government's £24bn carbon capture spending plans in this week's budget and redirect the money to green schemes that cut emissions and lower energy bills.
Chris Packham leads appeal for chancellor to scrap £24bn carbon capture spending
The appeal and Packham's criticism
Chris Packham is leading an 11th-hour appeal for the Treasury to use this week's budget to scale back carbon capture spending, saying the UK's planned outlay now exceeds that of the US, the EU, Norway and Japan combined.
The naturalist and broadcaster urged ministers to protect household-focused schemes rather than bankroll projects with uncertain results at this scale.
"CCS is a tech fairytale."
Packham said it should be a national embarrassment that the UK is pumping more taxpayer money into the technology than any other country in the world, and called this budget a chance to put things right. He added that failing to rein in the spending would be yet another strong signal that the government is putting big oil above people and the planet.
Which projects the money funds
The projects Packham criticised are developed by big oil companies, including BP and the Norwegian state oil company Equinor. Work on the UK's first CCS projects has already begun at:
- the East Coast Cluster, near Teesside and Humberside
- the HyNet Cluster, near Merseyside and north Wales
The second phase of the government's plan includes £200m to support the Acorn project in Aberdeenshire, alongside £80m from the Scottish government.
Household schemes at risk
The campaigners' concern is sharpened by reports that grants helping households swap a gas boiler for an electric heat pump are set to shrink. Warming buildings accounts for roughly one UK greenhouse gas emission in five.
Aled Dilwyn Fisher, senior researcher at Oil Change International, argued the budget should put public money where it makes a real difference to the climate and to energy bills, instead of betting billions on a fresh expansion plan from the fossil fuel industry. He described it as worrying that climate spending was being cut in favour of defence while proven climate solutions lost support and unreliable technology stayed funded.
Rosie Hampton of Friends of the Earth Scotland said the government's climate response was built on "fantasy plans about turning the North Sea into Europe's carbon dumping ground", and that politicians should focus on solutions that improve people's lives, such as warm homes, better public transport and decent green jobs.
The case for carbon capture
Carbon capture technology is designed to trap emissions from fossil fuel infrastructure before release into the atmosphere, and proponents see piping carbon dioxide into underground storage as a permanent solution for industries that cannot easily move away from fossil fuels. Critics note that many high-cost projects have struggled to progress, that carbon savings have often proved far less than expected, and that green groups fear the technology prolongs fossil fuel use.
Industry points to concrete gains: the Carbon Capture and Storage Association says the UK's first projects have awarded more than £4bn in supply-chain contracts, which could support about 350 UK companies and 5,500 construction jobs.
Mark Sommerfeld, the CCSA's UK director, warned against retreating from the programme.
"Pulling back now would undermine investor confidence, risk leaving infrastructure underused and deepen industrial decline."
He said the budget must honour existing commitments, turning today's progress into lasting growth, energy security and reindustrialisation.
The government, which says it remains committed to carbon capture while acknowledging that fiscal pressures may require decisions on the pace of the industry's development, has been contacted for comment.
