Carbon capture and storage must be at the heart of Labour’s green revolution

Taking action to protect our environment is one of those issues that has clearly been shunted down the to-do list by a Prime Minister unable to focus on anything other than forcing her Brexit deal through. But climate change will not put itself on hold whilst we try to negotiate with the EU, so it’s quite right that the Labour Party is putting the environment at the core of its economic agenda, from the work John McDonnell and Clive Lewis are doing in the shadow Treasury team to rewrite the green book to Rebecca Long-Bailey’s plans for a green jobs revolution.

Central to these plans should be carbon capture and storage. CCS is a process that captures CO2 before it’s released into the atmosphere, then either uses or stores it safely in offshore rock formations located deep underground. Unlike other technologies, CCS applications provide a range of services that can help decarbonise the whole economy.

This will enable energy-intensive heavy industry to become competitive in a low-carbon world, produce low-carbon hydrogen to decarbonise heating and transport, and produce reliable power generation that can complement and integrate intermittent renewable generation and support negative emission technologies when combined with sustainable bioenergy.

Thanks to its versatility and unique ability to drive deep decarbonisation across the whole economy, evidence from the committee on climate change, the International Energy Agency and the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change all show that CCS will be an essential tool to deliver the UN Paris Climate Change Agreement and limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C.

Our 2017 party manifesto rightly committed to delivering 60% of our energy supply from zero-carbon or renewable sources by 2030. But if we’re serious about decarbonisation, we need to be more holistic and look at the tools that will not only continue to drive emissions reductions in the power sector – but also the harder-to-reach sectors beyond power that now account for over three quarters of our total emissions. This all points to CCUS as a key enabler to decarbonise heavy industry, transport and heating.

And CCS won’t just bring green benefits. Deployment of CCS technology will protect and revitalise energy-intensive industries in working-class communities. CCUS is the only available method to tackle the emissions from heavy industry involved in steel, cement and chemicals production – something for which my constituency in Teesside is renowned. That makes it one of the only ways to ensure these Labour heartlands remain relevant and competitive in a low-carbon world. Jobs will be retained and new jobs created as these industries adapt and develop new low-carbon products for the global market.

It is shameful that the Conservative government decided to kick this can down the road in 2015 when George Osborne scrapped the £1bn funding competition for CCS. But now the tide is finally starting to turn, with an increasing recognition of the importance of CCS and its role in a net zero world.

Yes, we’ve had some positive noises out of government and in particular for an innovative project in my home area of Teesside – and yet noises are not enough. It is action we need, and needed now before it is too late.

The public understands the importance of acting on climate change. Across the country, indeed across the globe, we have seen tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to demand radical action in recent weeks and months. The Labour Party has already taken on climate change, but if we’re serious about protecting working-class communities and putting sustainable thinking at the heart of our new economic agenda, CCS must be championed.