To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what capacity building he has undertaken to increase carbon (a) capture and (b) storage infrastructure. (164386)

The Government have undertaken a series of measures to build capacity in both carbon capture and carbon dioxide storage. These include:

supporting one of the world's first commercial scale demonstrations of the full chain of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology on a coal-fired power station;

developing a regulatory regime for the storage of CO₂ (framework to be outlined in the forthcoming Energy Bill);

establishing a fund, in 2005, of £25 million (since increased to £35 million) to encourage the industry-led demonstration of carbon abatement technologies including CCS;

funding a three-year programme of research, through the Natural Environment Research Council, into issues related to CCS, particularly storage of carbon dioxide;

supporting CCS research projects through the Technology Strategy Board programme (during the period 2004-08 we have allocated £11.2 million for research projects into all carbon abatement technologies);

working with the North Sea Basin Task Force to publish a report focusing specifically on the possibilities for developing a pipeline infrastructure in the North sea for transporting CO₂ for permanent storage; and working very closely with the Chinese government to support an EU initiative for a near zero emissions coal project in China which will incorporate CCS technology.