Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, on what criteria a decision is made about approving a Development Consent Order (DCO) for privately developed carbon capture projects.

The criteria for DCO decisions for all carbon capture projects are set out in the Energy National Policy Statements (EN-1: Energy, and EN-2: Natural Gas Electricity Generating Infrastructure). EN-1 establishes an urgent need for carbon capture and storage infrastructure as part of the energy mix and provides specific policy for the assessment of DCO applications.

EN-2 sets out the assessment provisions that are applied to any gas fired power station with carbon capture. A project must demonstrate technically feasible plans for the carbon capture plant and assess its environmental effects, including the arrangements for the transport and storage of the captured carbon.