AS newly appointed UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrambles to stitch together yet another Cabinet and restore some sense of credibility to the Conservative government, questions are raised once again over the future of the country's carbon capture ambitions. With Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss throwing in the towel late last week and making her mark in the history books as the shortest-serving head of government, the UK political lottery wheel was spinning again as the country is in the midst of an energy crisis, eye-watering inflation and a spiralling cost of living. The chaos in Westminster is bound to spell trouble for the UK's climate and energy commitments, including its support for carbon capture and storage. The industry's concern was palpable during the Carbon Capture Storage Association (CCSA) 2022 conference held in London early last week - Truss was still PM at that point, although her fate was already sealed. Clarity, commitments, timing, outline of business models were all talking points delegates urged the government to address. Developers are ready to move forward, they said. What is Westminster doing? Government representatives from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) at the event were at pains to address the worries. They promised the government remains "fully committed" to CCS but could offer no specifics of what would happen and when.
展开▼
