THE UK Government has once again been criticised for snubbing the Scottish Acorn carbon capture project in Labour's nearly £22 billion funding announcement.
It is the third time in the last decade the project has been looked over for funding.
But what exactly is the history behind the project?
What is the Acorn project and where is it up to?
The project at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire is working with industrial, power, hydrogen, bioenergy and waste-to-energy businesses, including those in Peterhead, Grangemouth, and Mossmorran in Fife which wish to capture CO2 emissions and send them into permanent geological storage under the North Sea.
The Scottish Government awarded £2 million to the project in July, which will be used to explore how a pipeline could transport carbon dioxide from Scotland’s central belt to the North East.
A joint venture with the Scottish Cluster, the project brings together expertise from Storegga, Shell UK, Harbour Energy and North Sea Midstream Partners, along with National Gas, to try and bolster the technology’s use in Scotland.
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But there have been frustrations for some time over a lack of commitment to funding from the UK Government.
UK funding fails to materialise
The previous Tory government confirmed the project would progress to its “track two” stage last year, but SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn stressed in July there was a major lack of certainty over the timeline of funding and licensing which was holding it back.
Suspicions then grew that funding may not be forthcoming when Chancellor Rachel Reeves did not mention the project when she set out her green priorities at Labour conference.
With the project having missed out on support in 2021 in the track 1 stage of funding – with money going to two areas in the north of England – it rubbed salt into the wound when Keir Starmer announced £22bn for two “carbon capture clusters” in Teeside and Merseyside on Friday.
This was despite Starmer referencing the infrastructure and geology in Scotland that creates a “unique opportunity” in the country.
Experts say the technology is vital for Scotland to meet its climate targets.
The Scottish Government has previously said the Scottish cluster could support an average of 15,100 jobs between 2022 and 2050, with a peak of 20,600 jobs in 2031.
There has been a pattern of successive Labour and Tory governments snubbing carbon capture projects north of the Border.
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In 2007, Alex Salmond accused the UK Government of dealing “a near fatal blow” to plans for a £500 million green energy plant at Peterhead.
BP withdrew its investment in the project, with government funding delays being blamed for the company’s decision. The UK Government subsequently told Salmond the proposals “could not be revisited”.
In 2011, plans for the UK’s first carbon capture project at the Longannet power station in Fife were scrapped.
And in 2015, David Cameron insisted scrapping the £1bn carbon capture and storage fund, which aimed to develop technology in power stations, was the “right choice”. The SNP at the time claimed he had betrayed “the entire planet”.
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