Future of Acorn carbon capture project near Peterhead in doubt after £200 million funding cut
Business leaders and an MP criticise the decision, but campaigners say it is right
Last updated 16 hours ago
The future of the Acorn carbon capture project at St Fergus, near Peterhead, is in doubt after £200 million of development funding was cut in the Chancellor's budget.
It means the development will need to rely on equity investment or possible loans.
The project was promised UK Government support in June 2025, when then Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said ministers were "putting their money where their mouth is".
Reaction to the cut
Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, criticised the decision.
Mr Borthwick said: "This is yet another hammer blow for the North-east Scotland economy and comes only a year since Former Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the UK Government would put 'its money where its mouth is' and back the Acorn Project, protecting 15,000 North Sea jobs. All talk, no action, like so much of the transition we were promised by this government.
"This is an abject betrayal of that commitment and, yet again, communities across our region, which has powered the UK's energy and economic security for decades, are left to face the consequences of inaction and indifference from our political class."
Seamus Logan, MP for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, where the Acorn site is based, also criticised the move.
Mr Logan said: "This is the gravest betrayal of Scotland's energy sector and is an utter disaster for our energy security, our net zero ambitions and for Scottish jobs."
However, Friends of the Earth Scotland's head of campaigns, Caroline Rance, said it was right to cut Acorn's funding, given the technology is unproven.
Ms Rance said: "It has been over 20 years of delays, failures and sucking up public money and the so called carbon capture industry has not stored a drop of carbon. No amount of public money can make this pig fly."