In order for the new licences not to compromise the UK’s net zero plans, the government also confirmed a raft of new carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities designed to negate the emissions created by the extracted fossil fuels.

This includes projects in Acorn in north-east Scotland and Viking in the Humber that have been chosen as the third and fourth CCS clusters in the UK. These projects follow pre-existing plans to deploy CCS in two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s – the HyNet cluster in north-west England and north Wales, and the East Coast cluster on Teesside and the Humber.

But CCS technology has attracted criticism from climate campaigners who believe it is being used by high-carbon industries to ‘greenwash’ their operations.

According to a coalition of human rights and environmental groups, carbon offsetting will never be able to absorb the sheer volume of greenhouse gases countries plan to emit under their current net zero plans.

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