(Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
(SNP): Sir David Attenborough’s powerful opening statement
to COP26 told us that the journey to net zero means:
“We must recapture billions of tons of carbon from the air.”
The Climate Change Committee has been clear that carbon capture
and storage
“is a necessity not an option”
to achieve the planet’s net zero targets.
This week, Scotland’s world-leading climate targets have received
widespread praise from, among others, the UN Secretary-General.
Scotland is finding partners around the world to tackle the
climate emergency, but in Westminster there is not even a willing
partner to deliver the long-promised carbon-capture project.
Scotland’s north-east has now been waiting weeks for a clear
reason for exactly why the Scottish cluster bid was rejected.
There have been no clear answers, and not even clear excuses, so
perhaps the Prime Minister will answer this simple question: does
he know exactly how much of the UK’s CO2 storage the Scottish
cluster could deliver?
The Prime Minister
I am a massive enthusiast for carbon capture and storage around
the whole UK. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, the Acorn
project in Aberdeen remains on the reserve list. He should not
give up: we will come back to this issue and, of course, we want
to make sure that we have a fantastic industry generating clean
hydrogen around the country. The right hon. Gentleman should not
despair. In the meantime, we are supporting amazing Scottish
plans to get clean energy from wind, hydrogen and all sorts of
means. I thank the people of Scotland and the people of Glasgow
for the way they have helped to produce what has been, so far, a
fantastically well-organised summit.
It is bad enough that the Prime Minister rejected the Scottish
cluster a week before COP, but what is worse is that he clearly
does not even know or understand what his Government were
rejecting. Let me tell him: the Scottish cluster bid would have
stored 30% of the UK’s CO2 emissions and supported the creation
of around 20,000 jobs in green industries. It was far and away
the best bid, Prime Minister. If the decision was based on
science alone, it would have been approved on the spot. It is
obvious that there was a political decision in Westminster to
reject it. With days left at the COP summit, will the Prime
Minister now reverse his Government’s massive own goal in
rejecting the Scottish cluster?
The Prime Minister
I am trying to encourage the right hon. Gentleman to be a little
bit less gloomy about the prospects of this initiative. I
understand exactly what he says, and we are working with the
Scottish Government, whom I thank for their co-operation and all
their support for COP in the past few days and weeks and for what
they are doing. We will come back to this issue. What I think is
working well is the spirit of co-operation among all levels of
government in this country, and what does not work is
confrontation.
