Michael Meacher MP

Can you believe a single word they say?   The government’s new Energy Bill published last week was proclaimed as enabling the UK to “move away from high carbon technologies” (i.e. coal, oil and gas).    The Bill says that to meet the government’s statutory commitment to cut greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050, electricity plants must be largely decarbonised by the 2030s.   That is impossible without the widespread deployment of CCS – capturing the carbon from power stations and storing it underground.    Yet the government clearly doesn’t believe this is going to happen, not surprisingly since no prototype exists anywhere and its development is riddled with problems.   What that means is that the government is talking green technology, but actually giving the nod and wink to all the dirtiest fuels – coal, oil and gas. (more…)