Andy Burnham, the new Prime Minister, is being urged to scrap Ed Miliband's carbon capture and storage plan, which critics say could cost £264 billion by 2050, with £198 billion added to household energy bills.
Miliband was dropped as energy secretary by Burnham, but his policies remain in place. The carbon capture project, announced at £21.7 billion over 25 years, has been described as a "farce", "deranged" and "disastrous" by environmental writer George Monbiot.
Carbon capture costs soar
Monbiot's figures suggest the total cost will be far higher than initially projected, reaching £264 billion by 2050, of which £198 billion would be passed onto energy bills. The technology, designed to strip carbon emissions from heavy industry and bury them in empty gas fields, has never worked at scale anywhere, according to the article.
North Sea drilling blocked
Miliband also blocked new North Sea oil and gas drilling, leaving Britain dependent on imports from Norway, the US, Qatar and even Russia for jet fuel and diesel. Offshore Energies UK estimates reopening the North Sea could generate £165 billion by 2050, which could fund the green transition.
The article, written by Harvey Jones, criticises Miliband's approach as "madness" and says new energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh should take a more balanced view. Jones writes: "Whenever I criticise Ed Miliband, someone pops up to accuse me of being a climate change denier in the pay of Big Oil. I’m neither."
