The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Chris McDonald)
This statement provides an update on Government intervention in the supply of carbon dioxide.
On 26 March 2026, in response to risks to supply chains arising from the ongoing conflict in the middle east, the Government directed Ensus UK Ltd to restart production to generate a significant volume of carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide will be captured and sold to the market for use in food manufacture and preservation, beverage manufacture, energy, healthcare, and other essential applications.
For several months, the Government have been in discussion with Ensus to agree a standby arrangement. Under this arrangement, Ensus is required to maintain the plant in a quiescent state, at modest cost to Government, and keeps it ready to be activated at short notice in the event of a carbon dioxide shortage, or a credible risk of one emerging.
When the Government could have stepped back and let the plant close last year, we stepped in to keep it available. This intervention illustrates the different approach taken by this Government—an active and strategic state prepared to act where it is in the national interest. While previous Governments closed Britain’s gas storage, this Government have repeatedly acted to support our resilience, from saving British Steel from collapse to securing the future of the chemical cracker at Grangemouth. The Ensus intervention is part of that same deliberate pattern.
It forms part of wider Government work to ensure the UK maintains access to critical industrial inputs during periods of global supply disruption, such as the ongoing conflict in the middle east.
The Government are also taking steps to diversify the UK’s long-term carbon dioxide supply, strengthening UK resilience and reducing exposure to future global shocks. We will work with industry to develop and deliver this long-term plan.
My Department will continue to work with industry and relevant lead Government Departments to monitor risks to supply. We will protect taxpayers’ money by operating the plant only for as long as necessary. This is why we have agreed that the plant will operate for an initial period of three months but will be subject to regular review. The Department for Business and Trade will closely monitor the associated spend, which will be reported in DBT’s accounts for 2026-27, with 2025-26 spend also disclosed in the annual report and accounts. If conditions require it, the Government will not hesitate to extend this period and will retain the ability to restart the plant for a longer period as a precautionary measure.
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