Carbon action needed to save jobs - report

It calls for action to secure serve the future of the White Rose carbon capture project which was thrown into doubt last week after power generator Drax withdrew its commitment to invest in the scheme.

The report says White Rose is the key to the creation of a pipeline network across Yorkshire which, in turn, would help establish the region as a “low carbon industrial zone”.

According to the TUC study, more than 20,000 people are employed at power stations, chemical plants, steelworks and and other major emitters of carbon dioxide.

It warns that those industries face an uncertain future as environmental rules are tightened unless ways are found to cut their emissions.

Those industries also have an important role to play in creating the technology that will help cut carbon emissions, the report says.

TUC regional secretary Bill Adams said: “The future role of carbon capture and storage isn’t just an environmental challenge it is a test for the government’s promises of a ‘Northern Powerhouse’.

“Heavy industry in the North of England is under pressure and unless carbon emissions fall then we will see more go out of business.

“Our chemical, steel, glass, cement and ceramics industries all need the active support of government and a regional strategy with broad buy-in behind it.

“A low carbon future is essential for Yorkshire’s emerging and traditional industries and this report shows we urgently need a plan and commitment to get there.”

The White Rose project would see the building of a new coal-fired power station on the Drax power station site near Selby.

The emissions from the new plant would be captured and carried via pipeline to the North Sea where they would be stored in rock formations under the sea bed.

It is hoped the project would help support a wider pipeline network that could take emissions from heavy industry across the region for underground storage.

Other companies involved in White Rose say they remain committed to the scheme despite Drax’s withdrawal.

As the home to major power stations and heavy industry Yorkshire faces significant challenges from efforts to cut carbon emissions to reduce the impact on the climate.

However, that collection of heavy industry also makes Yorkshire an area that could make carbon capture and storage

Dr Laura Cohen, chairman of the Energy Intensive Users Group which represents heaving industry, said: “Our low carbon future depends on steel, chemicals, cement, glass and ceramics, as well as low carbon power stations. 

“Government must support a broad range of new technologies in the Yorkshire and the Humber low-carbon industrial zone as well as elsewhere in the UK so Britain can start making this a reality.”

The TUC report will be launched at an event in Leeds today.