Environment Agency Calls for Mandatory Carbon Capture and Storage

The Environment Agency has called for a halt to Government plans to build a new generation of coal-fired power stations, unless these incorporate carbon capture and storage technology (CCS). Chris Smith, the new Chair of the Environment Agency has commented that building coal-fired stations without this capability was "not an environmentally sustainable way of generating power given the challenges we face with climate change". Simply proving that new coal-fired power plants can be retrofitted with this technology, when developed after several years of the station's conventional operation, is not adequate.

The world's first CCS demonstration project was inaugurated in Germany last year - with the capability to store 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. It is unlikely that a commercial-scale demonstration project will be built in the UK until 2013.

Chief Scientific Advisor Says Country Should Plan for 4C Rise

Professor Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor to Defra has commented, in an interview with the Guardian newspaper, that the UK should plan for the effects of a 4C rise in temperature on pre-industrial levels. Professor Watson is reported, on the front page of today's paper, as saying "There is no doubt that we should aim to limit changes in the global mean surface temperature to 2C above pre-industrial...But given this is an ambitious target...we should be prepared to adapt to 4C."

According the scenarios in the 2006 Stern Review, 20 - 50% of plant and animal species would face extinction at this higher temperature, along with increased coastal flooding (affecting 7 - 300 million more people each year), a decline of 15 - 35% of agricultural yields in Africa and a 30 - 50% reduction of water availability in the Mediterranean.

Professor Watson also said that the UK should take the lead in developing Carbon Capture and Storage technology (CCS). He advocated an "Apollo-type" programme to introduce 10 - 20 CCS pilot projects. He commented that "without this technology we have a real problem".

See the full article in the Guardian: Prepare for global temperature rise of 4C, warns top scientist, 7 August 2008

Carbon Capture and Storage Consultation Launched

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has launched a consultation on the future of Carbon Capture and Storage.

A burgeoning population and consequent increase in demand for energy means that meeting global, national and regional carbon emission reduction targets will become increasingly difficult. In response, the government has proposed to build additional coal-fired power stations to meet the growing demand for energy. However, these proposals have been met with fierce criticism from environmental campaigners and leading scientists such as the President of the Royal Society, as the government's commitment to energy supply is not presently concomitant with appropriate measures to reduce carbon emissions using carbon capture and storage technology.

The consultation document seeks a range of perspectives on various components of the regulation of Carbon Capture and Storage. Specifically, the document will consult on aspects of the proposed EU Directive on the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide and welcomes views on the principle of ‘carbon capture readiness’ for combustion plants and the regulation of Carbon Dioxide storage.


BES members are invited to take part in the consultation response, and contributions are strongly welcomed from readers of the blog.