Invest in renewables not carbon capture, says BYM
BYM warned against relying on CCUS, ) which are ‘expensive, unproven at scale, and could delay real progress’.
The government should focus on proven renewable energy solutions, rather than carbon capture, Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has said.
Responding to the consultation on ‘Building the North Sea’s Energy Future’, BYM warned against relying too heavily on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) which are ‘expensive, unproven at scale, and could delay real progress’.
BYM’s submission said that when public trust is lost, it ‘provides a platform for those undermining climate solutions by throwing doubt on their affordability and feasibility’.
Renewable energy could help the UK achieve significant emissions reductions while lowering bills for the public and sustainably providing for future generations, it said.
‘The Quaker United Nations Office has highlighted rising international political interest in unproven at scale technologies to tackle the climate emergency,’ BYM went on. ‘So far, no project has captured more than 80 per cent of emissions… And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency have raised doubts about the effectiveness of CCUS.’
In its submission, BYM highlighted concerns over ‘decarbonising oil and gas’ with CCUS. New fossil fuel developments should not be built on the hope that future technologies will clean up their emissions, it stressed.
