Climate expert urges EU to speed carbon capture
Carbon capture pilot projects must be made a political priority in Europe to ascertain whether the technology works and can be applied in emerging markets, an official of the United National climate panel said on Monday.
Carbon capture pilot projects must be made a political priority in Europe to ascertain whether the technology works and can be applied in emerging markets, an official of the United Nations climate panel said on Monday.
"The pilot projects must be realized, it is a political decision," said Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at a German utility congress.
"Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is indispensable if we want a new deal for the climate," Edenhofer said."It would be best to create joint ventures with China to test it there and to see if they have enough storage sites."
U.N. talks to agree a new global climate treaty in Copenhagen in December will have to address what Edenhofer called a worrying renaissance of coal-burning, the most carbon dioxide-polluting way to produce electricity.
CCS promises to trap, transport and bury CO2 underground.
Edenhofer said that success in the European Union, which has pledged to have between 10 and 12 demonstration CCS plants in operation by 2015, was crucial for coal-reliant countries such as China, India and Russia to embrace it.
But progress is slowing as private sector money is not forthcoming in the financial crisis, and Germany, which holds national polls on September 27, has just postponed a law setting out necessary guidelines for CCS in the light of public opposition.
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