Study exposes ‘gaping chasm’ in Scottish climate plans due to carbon capture over-reliance

Climate campaigners are highlighting a ‘gaping chasm’ in Scotland’s efforts to meet climate targets after a Scottish Government study rapidly scaled down expectations for so-called ‘negative emissions technologies’ which claimed they could capture carbon.

Campaigners said that ‘reality must finally be dawning on Ministers’ after the specialist research downgraded the estimation of how much carbon could be captured by these controversial technologies from 5.7 Megatons of CO2 in 2032 to just 2.2 Megatons per year by 2030.

In 2021 Ministers were warned by scientists and campaigners that their plan to meet targets were dangerously over-reliant on unproven technologies that claimed they could suck carbon from the air and capture it from burning trees or waste. Another Scottish Government report in 2022 admitted progress was slower than they predicted and that these technologies would be unable to deliver this decade.

Campaigners are urging Ministers to stop throwing time and money into the ‘sinkhole’ of carbon capture technology. £100 million of public money has already been wasted attempting CCS at Peterhead back in 2015 and now the Scottish Government have offered £80million to the fossil fuel industry-backed Acorn carbon capture and storage project.

Ministers are also considering the approval of an additional gas burning power station with promises of carbon capture in Peterhead, currently Scotland’s biggest polluter.

Friends of the Earth Scotland climate campaigner Alex Lee (they) commented,

“Reality is finally dawning on Ministers that the promises of negative emissions technology are little more than hot air. The Scottish Government has been distracted for too long by carbon capture and these other dangerous schemes resulting in a gaping chasm in plans to meet climate commitments.

“Ministers have been repeatedly warned about their over-reliance on these rogue technologies and the time and money they have poured into the sinkhole of carbon capture rather than being deployed in working climate solutions. 

“Ministers should instead put the needs of people and the planet first, and scale up investment in public transport and home insulation that will improve lives and bring down climate pollution. Scotland’s energy future should be focused on readily available and more affordable options such as wind, solar, renewable heat and energy efficiency measures.

“Carbon capture is little more than greenwash from industries who are fighting to the deny the reality of the changes needed in energy generation, land use and how we reduce waste. Politicians in Scotland can no longer ignore the clear warnings about carbon capture and storage as a technology that could put our environment and climate at real risk of danger.”

A recent report from the Centre for International Environmental Law has criticised the new push to massively scale up offshore CCS by pooling CO₂ waste in storage hubs under the world’s oceans, including the North Sea. This analysis highlighted how this untested approach presents uncalculated risks and unprecedented monitoring challenges.