ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT
In advance of a meeting of the European Council scheduled for later this month, the EU’s Environment Council met in Brussels early this week to debate the controversial 2030 policy framework for climate and energy proposed in January. The new CO2 emission reduction targets outlined in the proposal were set at 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, with the share of renewable energy increased to at least 27 percent, and there are hopes a consensus will be reached on the targets at the full Council meeting. In light of the meeting this week, the Zero Emissions Platform released a statement urging the EU member states to embed CCS in their discussions on the Commission’s proposal. “In 2030, provided transitional support measures and a level playing field with other low carbon technologies, CCS could cost-effectively deliver at least 4 percent of the agreed GHG reduction on 1990 levels,” said Graeme Sweeney, ZEP Chairman. “This equals to a contribution from CCS to reduction of around 222 Mt CO2 in the year 2030, shared for three-quarters by the power sector (around 40 GW) and one-quarter by energy intensive industries.”
