Bid for clean coal gets boost from US

Age
Thursday 26/3/2009 Page: 4

THE Australian Government's planned Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute has received a big boost, with the Obama Administration signing up the United States as Climate Change Minister Penny Wong heads to Washington for climate talks. The purpose of the institute, announced last year and due to start on July 1, is to drive the commercialisation of carbon capture and storage by supporting large-scale demonstration projects.

The Government has promised up to $100 million a year for the institute. Last November it announced that Britain, Norway and South Korea had signed up, as well as nine companies in the oil, coal, gas and technologies industries, including Shell, Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi. Since then dozens of other companies and governments have agreed to join.

The US's participation is vital. It will mean information from its multibillion-dollar carbon capture and storage program will be shared with the rest of the world. President Barack Obama said after a meeting with PM Kevin Rudd yesterday that they had agreed clean energy was an area of "enormous potential" for generating economic growth.

"Both Australia and the United States have vast coal reserves, but we are all also very interested in figuring out how do we reduce the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming," the President said. He said that figuring out how to sequester and capture the carbon emitted from coal was an example of something that could create jobs and also deal with a potential environmental crisis.

Mr Rudd said American participation in the institute would be welcome around the world. "Generating jobs through clean coal and carbon sequestration technologies is critical. It's also critical in terms of bringing down greenhouse gas emissions." Meanwhile, Senator Wong, who left for Washington yesterday, said her discussions would centre around achieving a strong international agreement on climate change in Copenhagen later this year.

"It's in Australia's national interest to have a successful, effective agreement at Copenhagen, and we're going to work towards that," the Senator said. But critics of the Government's emissions trading scheme, speaking at a Senate committee hearing yesterday, have warned the Government it will be rendered impotent in global negotiations because of the low carbon reduction targets proposed.

Clive Hamilton, from the ANU, told the enquiry that Australia would be better off with no policy than the scheme proposed by the Government. The Government's scheme ensures free permits to heavy polluters, up to 90% of all emissions, for five years regardless of an international agreement.