A failure by the UK government to provide the billions of pounds needed to build full-scale demonstration plants that capture and bury carbon emissions from power plants would be "disastrous", MPs were toldtoday.

Developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) plants is seen as critical to meeting the UK's legally binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions over the next 20 years. But, ahead of the government's comprehensive spending review on 20 October, businesses - including Shell and Siemens - and policy experts have voiced fears that the government will not i impose a levy on energy bills to provide the estimated £4bn needed