The decision to scrap a £1 billion prototype Carbon Capture Scheme (CCS) is to be investigated by the National Audit Office (NAO). The cancelled scheme is believed to have cost the taxpayer at least £60 million.
An investigation will look into the expenses involved in running and then prematurely stopping a CCS auction, as well as looking into how the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will seek to secure the country's future energy needs.
Sir Amyas Morse, the auditor general at the NAO, stated: ''In the coming weeks we will begin work looking at particular areas: the costs that government has incurred in running the competition; and the department’s understanding of how the decision to cancel the competition impacts on its aims to maintain security of supply and reduce emissions.''
The investigation was requested by Lisa Nandy, the shadow energy and climate change secretary, and she hopes that this will provide an insight into George Osborne's decision. She further added: ''The chancellor’s sudden decision to abandon support for this cutting-edge technology after 10 years of promises hasn’t just damaged investor confidence at a time when we desperately need investment in our energy sector. It also means that millions and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been simply wasted.''
A spokesperson from DECC commented on the scrapping of the scheme: ''We did not take this decision lightly and it remains the case that CCS has a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK. We want to make our energy supply as clean as possible, but we will do so in a way that keeps bills as low as possible.''
Ministers have admitted that £222 million has been spent overall on CCS, but that they are still not sure as to what role, if any, this will play.
The Committee on Climate Change, an independent body which advises the government, wrote to Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, advising that the costs involved with meeting Britain's carbon targets would double without CCS.
There is currently an amended energy bill in Parliament which proposes that the energy and climate change secretary brings a new CCS strategy into force within the next 12 months.
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