AT WARSAW TALKS, DIVISION ON FUTURE OF CCS TECHNOLOGY

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
11/22/13

Carbon capture and storage technology enjoyed a spot in the limelight at U.N. climate talks in Warsaw, Poland—where representatives from a number of countries gathered over the last two weeks with hopes to hash out a framework for curbing greenhouse gas emissions through 2020—although there did not appear to be consensus on how or whether CCS will play a part in the world’s future. The CEO of the Global CCS Institute, Brad Page, said at a briefing at the climate talks that there is a “widening gap” between support for CCS and other clean energy options, but said that developing countries would “be well-served” by encouraging the development of CCS. “The world’s dependence on fossil fuels, especially for energy, is expected to continue for decades, the consequence of which will be increased greenhouse gas emissions leading to harmful climate change,” he said. “CCS offers the only way to continue to use fossil fuels without adding significantly more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, making it a vital component in the portfolio of low-carbon technologies required to achieve the international community’s 2 degrees Celsius target at lowest cost. … Equitable policy treatment between all large-scale mitigation solutions is essential.”

UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey also announced at the conference that the UK will follow the U.S. in phasing out funding for coal-fired power plants abroad with possible exceptions for those that deploy CCS. “It is completely illogical for countries like the UK and the U.S. to be decarbonizing our own energy sectors while paying for coal-fired power plants to be built in other countries,” he said. “It undermines global efforts to prevent dangerous climate change and stores up a future financial time bomb for those countries who would have to undo their reliance on coal-fired generation in the decades ahead, as we are having to do today.”

But others were not convinced that there was enough worldwide support for CCS to make it viable. Karl Rose, director of policy at the World Energy Council, said in a presentation that the council’s outlook for the technology was dim, according to Inside Climate News. “We have come to the conclusion that it is not going to happen,” he said. “We have not found in China nor in the U.S. nor in Europe anyone who is willing to invest and do CCS. And yet it is one of the crucial technologies which we have to make work one way or the other in order to decarbonizes some of the coal which we cannot get out of the system in time.” And Samantha Smith, leader of the WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative, said starkly: “Clean coal is a myth. There’s no two ways about it.” She added that the coal industry should not get a “social license” to keep building plants with the promises of deploying CCS. “It is not going to happen. It is too expensive, it is not practical and there is not enough geological storage space for all the carbon that these plants would put out.”

Negotiations Falter

Meanwhile, hundreds of environmental activists walked out of the talks on Thursday, saying that they were disappointed by the lack of progress, according to an Associated Press report, and news reports also said sticking points in the negotiations include whether poorer countries should receive financial support from rich countries for developing with cleaner energy and for climate change adaption. And some countries such as Japan and Australia came under fire, with criticisms launched at the former for cutting its goal for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and the latter for its rank as one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters on a per capita basis, as well as its efforts to repeal carbon price legislation and other controversial policies.

But according to the BBC, UK climate secretary Ed Davey was still hopeful that modest progress would be made at the talks, and there were some indications a deal might be hashed out on some of the more contentious issues.

The talks are aimed at creating a framework for curbing greenhouse gas emissions through 2020 in an effort to limit global average temperature to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in advance of talks scheduled to be held in Paris in 2015, where it is hoped a climate treaty will be finalized. The conference focused on three issues: “clarification of finance,” work on a “loss and damage mechanism” to support developing countries dealing with the impacts of climate change, and clarification of elements to be included in a draft agreement in preparation for the Paris talks, according to UNFCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres.