UK cancels pioneering £1bn carbon capture and storage competition

Conservative government breaks manifesto promise on project to capture emissions from fossil fuel plants, days ahead of UN climate summit in Paris

The UK government has cancelled its 1bn competition for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology just six months before it was due to be awarded, breaking a pledge in the Conservative party's election manifesto.

The abandonment of a technology championed by David Cameron and seen as vital in tackling global warming will be an embarrassment to the UK, just days before a major UN climate change summit in Paris. Industry figures called the move "devastating" and while experts said it would make meeting the UK's binding carbon cuts "almost impossible" and more expensive.