New report could place Teesside 'at heart' of CCS technology post-Brexit

A report has warned that the government must bring forward its plan to support carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology by at least 10 years - or risk ‘irreversible damage’ to the UK industry.

The paper calls for the launch of a CCS pilot area on Teesside which would put post-Brexit Britain at the forefront of clean energy technology; and save industries threatened by rising environmental pressures.

CCS enables the potential capture of up to 90 per cent of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels used within industrial processes, electricity generation and from power plants.

In its Clean Growth Strategy in 2017, the government announced its intentions to become a “global technology leader for CCS”.

This would see it aiming to deploy CCS at scale by the 2030s, as backed up by the recommendations of the CCUS Cost Challenge Taskforce.

However, think tank Policy North believes, unless CCS is supported sooner, industry across the North of England will continue to suffer due to increasing penalties from various worldwide climate and environmental regulations.

Callum Crozier, of Policy North, who authored the report, said: “The longer we leave this, the longer our industry in the UK will be damaged by increasingly burdensome environmental regulations and international climate change agreements.

“As we leave the EU and set our sights on a future path as a truly Global Britain exporting goods to the world, it has never been more important to support our traditional industries.”

Policy North believes bringing CCS plans forward by at least decade would put the UK ahead of the EU.