As predictably as as false climate crisis solutions follow conference lobbying, the Labour Party government has announced its latest chunk of taxpayer cash it’s gearing up to inject into the fossil fuel industry.
But apparently, there’s a £22bn black hole in public finances.
So, Labour has said it needs to freeze your grandparents to death this winter to plug this.
Therefore, it might come as a shock (a SHOCK we tell you) that energy secretary Ed Miliband has seemingly found a spare £22bn down the back of sofa for the government’s gander into greenwashing. Specifically, the Labour cabinet plan to spaff this up the wall of the fossil fuel industry-favourite smokescreen technology that is carbon capture and storage (CCS) – after proponents of it lobbied the party.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS): a sham solution
As the Guardian (rather dutifully) reported:
Rachel Reeves is paving the way for a multibillion-pound increase in public-sector investment at the budget after the government announced plans to commit almost £22bn over 25 years to fund carbon capture and storage projects.
In what is expected to be one of the biggest green spending promises of the parliament, the chancellor, prime minister and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, will unveil the details on a visit to the Liverpool city region on Friday declaring a “new era” for clean energy jobs.
CCS itself does what it says on the tin. Companies capture carbon emissions from large-scale industrial installations. They then pump it underground – for instance, in depleted oil and gas wells. However, this is the technology the fossil fuel industry is pinning its hopes on as a lifeline for its polluting business-as-usual.
The Guardian article therefore noted that the technology is “controversial” because:
it has never been used at commercial scale in the UK before, while environmental campaigners have warned big energy firms could use it to extend the life of their fossil fuel assets.
It didn’t give any further details on this, but as the Canary has previously reported, plenty of studies have demonstrated it woefully falling short.
Labour conference lobbyists and hedge fund millions
Of course, the Guardian gave good ol’ greenwashing Ed the last word. Furthermore, it bigged up the Labour energy sec while it was at it. Notably, it wrote that:
Britain’s initial attempt to establish a carbon capture industry began in 2009 under a Labour government. But after the Conservative victory in 2010 the £1bn funding plan faltered and was scrapped in 2015. The Conservatives went on to shortlist the two CCS projects for funding in 2021 but did not commit to the investment before they were voted out of power in July.
Miliband said: “I was proud to kickstart the industry in 2009, and I am even prouder today to turn it into reality.
“On Monday, 150 years of coal in this country came to an end. Today, a new era begins. By securing this investment, we pave the way for securing the clean energy revolution that will rebuild Britain’s industrial heartlands.”
Yet, it somehow missed the part where previous governments have wasted almost £500m to prop up this junk technology.
Despite all this, the Labour government is still planning to ploughing billions more into dud CCS. Might this have something to do with its lavish £4m from an offshore tax haven-based hedge fund, with a philanthropic foundation that invests in just such technology?
Or, perhaps the recent Labour Party conference awash with CCS backers twisted its arm.
One was the industry body the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) forking over thousands to secure itself a stand outside this year’s conference hall. It previously sponsored 15 events at Labour’s 2023 conference. But, it’s in bed with big oil and gas, big-time – with members from BP, to Exxon, to Shell, and Equinor.
Others were CCS developers hosting fringe events, and a lobbying firm that represents the sector.
Miliband didn’t miss the multi-million pound memo
One person on X thought that Miliband might have missed the memo:
Someone needs to tell Ed Miliband that CCS (Carbon Capture Storage) is a myth invented by the fossil fuel lobby to maintain fossil fuel production.
It won’t work. Just Stop Oil
— Rangzen (@revoltinghippie) October 4, 2024
*Whispering* – here’s the truth: he knows, he just doesn’t care. Miliband is more worried for the fossil fuel industry going the way of his Labour leadership stint (see: the ill-fated ‘Edstone’) than he is about people dying from the cold this winter:
Urgent: this represents capture of the UK’s environmental policy by fossil fuel companies. Taxpayer subsidies of 22bn should NOT be going to support these companies esp while Uk citizens struggle to pay fuel bills.
We need a rethink @Ed_Miliband https://t.co/VWaPAWr97i
— MP Watch (@MPWatchNetwork) October 4, 2024
Did he say something about a “new” industry? That would be the flailing CCS the government has thrown millions at, but has nothing to show for it after over a decade. Moreover, the announcement was just that the new government would waste more money on it. There’s a term for this type of taxpayer-fueled spending spree:
This isn’t an industry, it’s a subsidy https://t.co/vhu3TzfOkG
— James (@jamesjwyork) October 4, 2024
£22 billion subsidy to the fossil fuel industry https://t.co/1gKUaKxEPM
— Todd Bonzalez (@not_tbonzalez) October 4, 2024
At the end of the day, it’s just the business-bought neoliberal Labour Party doing what it does best. Eye-watering payouts for its capitalist backers at the publics’ expense. Obviously, this latest sham will be bad news for the planet too.
It will greenlight and greenwash climate-wrecking companies continuing their destructive extractivism. Corporate capture leading to carbon capture? That about sums it up.
Featured image via the Canary
