Storing climate-damaging CO2 deep in the seabed is intended to protect the climate. The British government is also pursuing similar plans. Critics would prefer to use the billions of dollars differently.
The British government wants to invest almost 22 billion pounds (26.2 billion euros) in the underground storage of climate-damaging CO2 over the next 25 years. The government in London announced that the projects would capture emissions from heavy industry and bury them underground, for example in disused oil fields under the sea.
The goal is to capture 8.5 million tons of carbon emissions every year, it said. It was only on Monday that Great Britain became the first western industrial country to stop generating electricity from coal.
Two CO2 storage projects are specifically planned in northwest and northeast England. The former coal and heavy industrial regions are severely affected by structural change. The technology will create 4,000 jobs and billions in private investment across Merseyside and Teesside communities, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced.
The storage of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas CO2 in the seabed or on land is intended to protect the climate. Many countries want to use this method to offset emissions that are difficult to avoid. In Germany, at the end of May, the cabinet cleared the way for a corresponding law that provides for CO2 storage, especially in the North Sea. However, experts and environmental organizations warn against relying on CO2 storage (CCS) on a larger scale instead of climate protection because this is considered very expensive and difficult to implement on a large scale.
Criticism from Greenpeace
In Britain, critics stressed that the announcement fell short of the plans of the previous Conservative government, which had announced a total of 20 billion pounds over 20 years and wanted to store 20 to 30 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually by 2030. Finance Minister Reeves replied that the Conservatives had never signed any concrete contracts.
Industry association Energy UK welcomed the plans. Greenpeace, on the other hand, criticized that the country was exposing itself to the danger of “committing itself to second-rate solutions”. Leading climate experts recently warned that untested technologies could lock Britain into fossil fuel use and make it even harder to achieve carbon neutrality.
Source: Stern
