Billions pledged by government to Merseyside for Carbon Capture facility - but what is it?

Sir Keir Starmer has been in the region to commit £22 billion to new carbon removal technology Credit: PA Images

  • Words by Phil Gornall, ITV Granada Reports journalist

The Prime Minister's announcement of a £22 billion investment in Merseyside and Teesside for Carbon Capture technology has been widely welcomed as a step in the right direction on tackling climate change.

But what does it actually mean?

Carbon capture isn't a new idea - it was first trialled in America as long ago as 1972.

But with climate change gathering pace rapidly there's a new urgency to finding methods of dealing with it.

Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a major driver of climate change.

A naturally occurring gas, modern industrial processes and fossil fuels have helped produce an overload in the atmosphere which is adding to global warming and climate change.

£22bn carbon capture pledge can ‘relight fires of renewal’, Starmer says
CCS technology aims to prevent excess CO2 from getting into the atmosphere Credit: Matthew Vincent/PA Wire/PA Images

In simple terms Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) does what it says on the tin.

In a three stage process excess CO2 produced by power generation or industrial processes such as steel making is separated at source from other gases.

It is then transported by pipeline, road or in ships to a storage facility.

The third and final element of the process is the storage of the gas underground, in the case of the North West development deep under Liverpool Bay.

In a related process Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) the captured CO2 is reused in industrial processes, producing for example biofuel, plastics or concrete.

How Carbon Capture and Storage works Credit: PA Images

This all sounds great - but is it safe?

Supporters of this approach point out that it involves proven technology that has operated safely for 45 years.

This system aims to prevent too much CO2 from getting into the atmosphere altogether, working along with measures to remove the excess already there, such as restoring peat bogs or planting more trees which are natural CO2 traps.

Emma Pinchbeck, Chief Executive of Energy UK, described CCUS as a “tool in our armoury of technologies which we need to decarbonise parts of energy that we currently can’t do with clean electricity, such as major industrial processes”.

James Richardson, acting Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee, said: “It’s fantastic to see funding coming through for these big projects.

“We can’t hit the country’s targets without CCUS so this commitment to it is very reassuring.”

The new woodland helping to fight climate change
Trees are a natural source of carbon capture Credit: Ben Birchall/PA Archive/PA Images

But Greenpeace UK’s Policy Director, Doug Parr, said £22 billion "is a lot of money to spend on something that is going to extend the life of planet-heating oil and gas production".

While he acknowledged it was vital the Government committed to industrial investment and job creation while tackling the climate crisis, “it needs to be the right sort of industries”.

Speaking to ITV News' Rob Smith, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended plans to invest in carbon capture technology in Merseyside.

The Prime Minister claims this technology would create thousands of jobs for workers in the North West, while also allowing polluting industries to survive as the UK approaches their net zero goals.

He said: "We are transitioning to renewable energy because it’s cheaper, we get independence, and we get many jobs with it, but we also have to recognise that when it comes to sectors like glass or cement it’s virtually impossible to manufacture without some carbon.

"What this does is it allows us to capture that carbon… put it back in the ground and put it back in the ground essentially where it came from."

But Cllr Tom Crone, the leader of the Green Group on Liverpool Council, argues it is a "costly distraction" and urged the government to invest in "true green fuels".

He said: "It's completely unproven at any kind of scale and likely to generate energy at a much higher cost than renewable and other forms of energy, I really believe it's only going to benefit the fossil fuel companies so they can carry on extracting fossil fuels.

"They really should instead be investing in home insulation to save people money off their bills and increasing investment in renewables for clean energy that we really need for the future."

Cllr Tom Crone, of the Green Party, set out the pitfalls he believes there are with Carbon Capture

The government sees CCS as a means of reaching its legally binding net zero commitment by 2050, essentially balancing the amount of climate change greenhouse gases we produce with the amount we remove.

It is a growing technology and industry experts say that by 2022 there were 194 large scale facilities across the world with 73 of those in Europe.