THE Scottish Greens have said the UK Government’s plans to pour billions of pounds of funding into carbon capture is no substitute for investment in renewable energy.

On Friday, Keir Starmer announced nearly £22 billion of funding for carbon capture projects in Merseyside and Teeside.

The “carbon capture clusters” are set to emerge over the next 25 years with thousands of jobs promised.

Yet while the SNP highlighted that the Acorn carbon capture project in Aberdeenshire had once again been passed over by the UK Government, the Scottish Greens said it was an act of greenwashing to pour so much money into largely unproven technology.

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“Carbon Capture is a costly and unproven technology that is often used to justify our continued reliance on fossil fuels,” said the party’s co-leader Lorna Slater.

“It is no substitute for clean, green and renewable energy and must not distract us from the investments that we need to be making and the green change that we need to deliver.

“The billions of pounds that Keir Starmer is pouring into CCS would be much better spent on cutting people’s electricity bills, investing in green skills and proven industries and boosting energy efficiency and public transport.

“Global temperatures are rising around us and the situation is urgent. All governments badly need to be moving away from oil and gas.

Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said carbon capture technology was failing to deliver on its promises (Image: PA)

“We can not greenwash our way out of the crisis we are in, and must not put our hopes on technology that doesn’t deliver the carbon capture rates being promised and is being pushed by polluters to allow them to keep drilling our North Sea.

“Scotland has the skilled workers and resources to invest in renewable technology that will make a real difference here and now. Both the Scottish and UK governments must invest in that rather than pumping money into giving companies permission to pollute.”

It comes after climate campaigners in Scotland said the technology had largely failed to deliver on its promises and claimed funding it directed money away from bolstering renewable energy infrastructure and electrifying public transport systems.