Australia will host and contribute up to $100 million a year to a new global carbon capture and storage institute that will make the nation the world's 'go to' place on cleaner coal, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a Canberra press conference this morning. Meanwhile, a carbon capture and storage company has warned the Government that larger-scale CCS projects will need far more money than the grants of $50 million or $60 million made so far.
The Coalition will seek amendments in the Senate to the Government's bill on offshore storage of greenhouse gases and is withholding judgment on Government changes to the bill made following a House of Representatives inquiry, Shadow Climate Change Minister Greg Hunt told Parliament today. Meanwhile, former resources minister Ian Macfarlane has warned parliament the bill must not allow oil and gas titleholders in the Gippsland Basin to hold Latrobe valley generators to ransom.
Australia is likely to have its first commercial-scale cleaner coal power plant fitted with carbon capture and storage technology by 2025, according to National Generators Forum chief John Boshier.
The Minister for Energy and Resources should have power to direct petroleum companies and CO2e storage proponents to negotiate in good faith and come to terms, a House of Representatives carbon capture and storage inquiry recommended today.
The federal carbon capture and storage bill is so biased towards protecting petroleum industry interests that it could stifle plans for offshore storage of massive quantities of CO2 captured from Latrobe Valley power stations and derail coal-based projects worth billions, according to the Victorian Government, power generators and the coal industry.
As the G8 summit looms, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair releases a report telling G8 leaders the world needs a radical solution – involving cleaner coal and nuclear power – that steers the world away from carbon dependency.
Meanwhile, California outlines plans for a 30% emissions cut by 2020.
