A Public Accounts Committee has questioned the Government’s wisdom in earmarking investment for “unproven, first-of-a-kind technology” to reach net-zero, calling it “high-risk”.

In a report, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) calls on Government to assess whether its full carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) programme will be affordable for taxpayers and consumers, given wider pressures on energy bills and the cost of living.

The report also notes recent scientific evidence that producing liquid natural gas, which will be used to run several CCUS projects, leaks more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than previously thought.

It notes that three-quarters of the almost £22bn envisaged to support the projects will come from levies on consumers who are already facing some of the highest energy bills in the world. But the report finds the Government has not yet looked at the likely financial impact of CCUS on households.

The Committee chair, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, said: “Government is gambling on carbon capture technology becoming foundational to achieving net-zero. This £21.7bn policy is going to have a very significant effect on consumers and industry’s electricity bills. Whether this is acceptable remains to be seen.”

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