The Government is preparing to reignite Britain’s plans to develop a technology that can strip harmful carbon dioxide out of industrial emissions.

The plans to embrace carbon capture and storage (CCS) are the first to emerge since a billion-pound funding competition fit two coal power plants with the technology collapsed two years ago.

The new scheme will focus on helping to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industry and heating.

Claire Perry MP, a minister in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, resurrected CCS ambitions at the Conservative Party conference, saying it was a “vital technology”, which should be deployed “at an appropriate cost”.