Letter to the Herald – Captured carbon

I don’t know if this will be printed in Friday’s paper, but here’s what I sent:

The collapse of the CCS project at Longannet highlights the uncertainty which exists, given the technical and financial challenges of capturing carbon dioxide from power stations, transporting it safely, and then storing it in a way that gives confidence that it will stay where it’s put for a period of time which must be measured in geological terms, not in business or electoral cycles. If it can be done, it will help to smooth the transition away from fossil fuels. It’s a pretty big if.

Both UK and Scottish Governments have ignored this “if”, as they seek cover for the expansion of the fossil fuel industries – both extractive and power generating. The SNP in particular have worked a very clever trick of promoting both a high-carbon and a low-carbon economy at the same time. As well as support for renewables, we’ve seen an expansion of open cast coal extraction, proposed coal-fired and gas-fired power stations, fulsome Ministerial support for deepwater oil drilling and a refusal to rule out shale gas extraction.

Whether we blame technical problems, financial risks, or Treasury shenanigans for the failure of the Longannet project, the fact is that CCS remains a speculative technology that will not be available for many years, if ever. Ministers in both Governments must now abandon their support for new fossil fuel generating capacity. They must also, if they are serious about wanting fossil carbon to stay out of the atmosphere, accept the need to leave it where it is. It is already captured, in the ground and under the seas. If it’s extracted it will be burned, and it makes no difference whatever to the climate whether it shows up on Scotland’s emissions inventory or someone else’s.

Sincerely,

Patrick Harvie

Newsnight Scotland on carbon capture

Last night Newsnight Scotland discussed the possible collapse of Scottish Power’s project to develop carbon capture and storage technology at Longannet, which the Guardian reported earlier in the day.

Newsnight invited me to discuss it with Professor Stuart Haszeldine of Edinburgh University.

We’ve always been willing to support research into CCS technology, but I’ve been consistently challenging the Scottish Government not to approve new fossil-fuel power stations on the assumption that CCS can be fitted later. It’s a speculative technology, and if it pays off one day it could play a huge role. But till then the focus needs to be on cutting our energy demand, and generating as much as we can from renewables.