Scotland’s location on the North Sea is ideal for the development of carbon capture and storage hubs, Stuart Haszeldine, director of Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage, said Monday in an editorial published in the Herald Scotland. Haszeldine noted the findings of a study published last week by the Energy Technology Institute. “The first storage can be achieved by 2020 using existing infrastructure in north-east Scotland and offshore expertise as the foundation of a sunrise CCS industry in Scotland. Our location is one of the top three in Europe that can offer a CO2 storage ‘hub’, fed by shipping from around the UK and the EU,” Haszeldine wrote.
Haszeldine also noted a Scotland’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. Thus far, progress toward those goals has been in the form of increased use of renewables. That shouldn’t end, Haszeldine said. “CCS is certainly not intended to replace or slow the move to renewables, but faster emissions reduction is needed now to reduce runaway climate change. To meet the challenges of 2030 and 2050, Scotland can pursue both renewables and CCS – providing canny commercial leadership in climate justice.”
