UK to Invest $272 Mn in Scotland's Acorn Carbon Capture Project to Meet Net-Zero Goals by 2050

Britain has pledged to invest $272 million in the Acorn carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Scotland, the government said on June 12. This adds more detail to the funding for the technology announced in a spending review on June 11, reported Reuters.

Britain has a climate target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and has said CCS will be needed to curb emissions from energy-intensive industrial sectors.

Carbon Capture Gets Boost

Acorn is a joint venture by Storegga, Shell UK, Harbour Energy and North Sea Midstream Partners  in St Fergus, Scotland, to capture carbon dioxide emissions from industry and store them under the North Sea.

Acorn CCS project is a carbon transportation and storage system that captures carbon dioxide from heavy industry and sends it offshore through repurposed pipelines to permanent storage located around 2.5 km below the North Sea.

"This vital support will enable the critical work needed to reach Final Investment Decision (FID) and marks a major step forward — not only for Acorn, but for the development of Scotland’s CCS infrastructure and the growth of a UK-wide carbon capture and storage industry," Tim Stedman, CEO of Storegga, said in an emailed statement, as per the Reuters report.

The government announced that it would also support the Viking CCS project in the Humber region, in the north of England, without specifying how much money it would receive.

"This (funding) will support industrial renewal in Scotland and the Humber with thousands of highly-skilled jobs at good wages to build Britain’s clean energy future," Britain’s energy minister, Ed Miliband, said in a release from Britain's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The funding is part of 9.4 billion pounds the government pledged to carbon capture technology over the spending review period and the 21.7 billion pounds it last year said would be spent on CCS over 25 years.

Britain’s 200 million pounds investment in the Acorn CCS project forms a core pillar of its legally binding target to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The government said projects like Acorn and Viking are crucial for decarbonising heavy industry. Once operational, the two projects could collectively remove up to 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, the government shared.