This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) has come in for quite a bit of stick lately. First there was the report from the Westminster Public Accounts Committee which described it as a “high risk gamble”, and noted that three-quarters of its £22 billion funding promised by the UK Government over 25 years was set to come from “levies on consumers”

“The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero,” the report said, “has not looked at the likely financial impact on bills of the full CCUS programme at a time when households are already facing high energy prices.”

Then, yesterday, ahead of the announcement that the UK energy price cap is set to rise by 6.4% from April, Friends of the Earth Scotland followed up with a statement focussed on Labour’s “£22 billion handout”.

The charity's Fuel Poverty Action campaign lead Stu Bretherton said: "To stick further costs onto our energy bills to pay for unproven and false climate tech like carbon capture is a betrayal to voters who elected this government on the promise of a real green transition that delivers energy bill reductions.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland calculated that carbon capture costs to the public would, at 75%, be £16.5 billion, and would work out at £589.29 per household. Spread out over 25 years that would mean £23.57 every household each year.

All of which leads to a string of other questions. How proven or unproven is this technology How much do we actually need it? And where are the risks in the current plans? Other technologies also come with costs - but is carbon capture, given its uncertainty, a cost too much? These are questions I will be looking at over the coming weeks, but for now a quick look at the overall picture.

Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) has long been seen as a technology to get us out of the hole of any continued reliance on burning fossil fuels. It is viewed as........

© Herald Scotland