The government is to relaunch its carbon mitigation "X-factor" competition - an attempt to get private investors to research carbon capture technologies.
For the second time in five years, £1bn will be offered for schemes to trap and bury carbon dioxide.
An earlier competition collapsed after all nine entrants pulled out, most citing cost as the main problem.
If government is going to pay for big, new technology breakthroughs then structuring the attempt as a competition is probably the least harmful way of doing it. I hold out little hope of success though.
(H/T Munroad)