The case against "capture ready" power stations Coal is abundant and burning it produces more greenhouse gases than oil or gas. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology may allow us in the future to burn coal for electricity without releasing dangerous quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. But the technology is many years from commercial application. Coal-fired power stations are being proposed and built around the world without capturing their CO2 emissions. Coal has become a global climate battleground. In the EU, about 80 new coal-fired power stations are being planned. Litigation opposing new coal-fired power stations is happening or anticipated in key jurisdictions: the USA, Germany, Poland and the UK. We have serious concerns about the UK government's clean coal proposals. They promised much when they were first announced in April, but the details in the government consultation documents published in June revealed serious flaws. There is a substantial risk that they will deliver very little carbon capture and storage (CCS) and allow unabated new coal to continue.(1) From both an investment and environmental risk perspective, the government's current proposals will not result in an effective regulatory framework. Small CCS demonstration projects will provide a fig leaf for large new unabated coal power stations. Our main concern is with the proposed requirement to retrofit CCS. It does not offer certainty from the outset and depends upon the carbon price generated by the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2020.(2) We have now responded to the government’s consultation explaining that no new coal power stations should be granted consent in the UK unless they capture all of their CO2 emissions from the outset. This is now considered to be technically possible for commercial coal power stations with 900MW capacity.(3) The acid test for the government’s proposals is the required strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process.(4) We consider that the SEA has been deliberately designed to shut out the latest science on climate change including the expert evidence of Professor James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate change scientists who last year successfully defended the Greenpeace “Kingsnorth 6”.(5) Notes and resources 1 DECC’s framework for the development for clean coal 2 The Sandbag report 3 DECC press release asserting technical capability for power stations capturing all CO2 emissions 4 Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of certain plans and programmes on the environment and the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004. 5 Target Atmospheric CO2 by Professor Hansen |