The UK Government has been urged to reverse its "disgraceful" decision to axe a £1 billion competition to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the move was unfair to businesses and would damage efforts to tackle climate change ahead of crucial talks in Paris.
Peterhead power station in Aberdeenshire was one of two bidders seeking to secure funding to develop technology to capture and store carbon emissions, alongside the White Rose scheme in Yorkshire.
The issue was raised at First Minister's Questions at Holyrood by Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire and Buchan coast.
In response, Ms Sturgeon said: "Stewart Stevenson is absolutely correct to describe this as a disgraceful decision. I think it's a shocking example of how the Conservative UK Government is treating businesses.
"Here we have got two FTSE 100 companies entering a £1 billion capital funding competition in good faith, committing resources, time and money towards a bid that was due at the end of this year only to be told at the very last minute that the money is no longer available."
The First Minister said the Scottish Government had not been consulted on the decision and was only told after Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement yesterday.
She said: "(Energy minister) Fergus Ewing has already made clear to the UK Government our opposition to this decision, which is the latest in a long list of UK Government energy decisions which harm energy generation in Scotland and, as Stewart Stevenson rightly says ahead of the Paris talks, undermines our efforts to tackle climate change.
"I would call on the UK Government today to reverse this decision because it is utter folly, it is unfair to businesses, it is downright wrong."
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