WIREDGOV

Commenting on the announcement yesterday (Wednesday) that the government is to abandon plans for the UK's first coal-fired power plant to have included carbon capture and storage technology, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'This decision is a huge blow, threatening the UK's leadership in producing a vital technology to combat climate change. Any delay to the development of carbon capture and storage puts at risk the 10,000 or more jobs dependent upon coal in the UK.

'It's much more likely that our global competitors will now reap the benefits of the UK government's inaction and become the winners in the race to develop an effective version of this emerging technology.

'As a matter of urgency, ministers must now come up with the funds and a tight programme to allow the remaining three carbon capture pilot projects to get off the ground.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Only this week the Clean Coal Task Group (CCTG) - of which the TUC and seven of its affiliated unions are members - published a report Roadmap for Coal that warned that without a substantial investment in carbon capture technology and a major reform of the UK's electricity market, the UK will become heavily dependent on gas-fired power, and will see its competitor nations moving ahead in the race to develop low-cost, effective carbon capture and storage technology http://www.tuc.org.uk/industrial/tuc-20176-f0.cfm

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk