Why Labour support for Scottish carbon capture scheme could do much more than save Grangemouth jobs

It must be said, first of all, that government efforts to save the jobs of workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery should have started long before now. The fact that the plant is set to close with the loss of some 400 jobs within months and so little has been done suggests all the talk of a ‘just transition’ has been little more than that.

However, while it is belated, UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s comment that he will “consider” fast-tracking the Acorn carbon-capture-and-storage project in Aberdeenshire to help save jobs at Grangemouth is welcome – and not just for the sake of the people involved.

To date, while the UK Government has provided funding for carbon-capture ‘clusters’ in Merseyside and Teeside, it has not made a similar commitment to Acorn, which is already connected by a pipeline to Grangemouth. This means that carbon-dioxide emissions from the latter site’s industrial processes could be sent there and then stored in subsea rock formations under the North Sea.

Climate Change and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said he will 'consider' fast-tracking the Acorn carbon capture project to help save jobs at Grangemouth (Picture: Oli Scarff) | Getty Images

Speaking about Grangemouth, Miliband said: "There's huge potential on that site, and we are absolutely determined, for the sake of that community, the Scottish economy, the UK economy, to do that."

And Russell Borthwick, the chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, described “an accelerated timeline for Acorn” as an “economic imperative for both the north-east and wider Scottish economy”. “Carbon capture technology is game-changing technology which can create tens of thousands of jobs across the country,” he said.

But carbon capture is potentially even more important than that. While it is technically possible, the difficulty has been in making the process commercially viable. If the UK finds ways to make this more efficient, it could lead to the development of a major, world-leading industry.

While the potential of carbon capture has been wrongly used as a shield by the oil and gas industry against calls to decarbonise, it still has a vital role to play in the drive to net zero.

So, in addition to saving jobs at Grangemouth and potentially creating many more across the UK, it might just end up saving us all from the steady march of climate change.