The United Kingdom’s recent decision to abandon a £1 billion carbon capture and storage commercialization program is contradictory to the nation’s statutory target mandating an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050, according to a report from the U.K. Energy Research Centre. “Without CCS gas must be steadily phased out over the next 35 years and almost entirely removed by 2050,” the report says.
The Feb. 23 report explores the future of gas in the U.K., taking into consideration two recent announcements by the government: the scrapping of the CCS commercialization competition and the intention to close all unabated coal-fired power plants by 2025.
In light of these announcements, “without CCS, the scope for UK gas use in 2050 is little more than 10 [percent] of its 2010 level. The recent decision of the UK Government not to support CCS demonstration is therefore at odds with its seeming perception of a long-term future for UK gas consumption in a context of meeting the UK’s carbon targets,” the report says.
