The Australian government has announced that a total of 5 million AUD (3.5 million euro) will be awarded to developing a system whereby wastewater and CO2 from fossil-fuel power plants are used to produce algae that is, in turn, used to produce biofuels and animal feed.

TPG Capital, one of the biggest private equity investment firms in the world, announced earlier this month that it will provide backing for engineering company 2Co Energy Limited in the areas of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

In a decisive move towards the EU’s goal of a low-carbon economy, the European Commission has adopted a proposal to ban state aid to loss-making hard coal mines in Member States (MS) by October 2014. Any mines operating in the meantime can receive state aid only if they hold a definitive closure plan. This is a significant improvement from the draft proposal presented by the Commission’s competition department last month.

The exploration of the subsurface structures has started as part of the first experimental CO2 storage plant in Spain. The exploration involves a seismic survey at a depth of 1500 metres and covering 35 km2 in the northern region of Hontomín, Burgos. This is a preliminary step to decide the exact location for the construction of the first pilot plant to demonstrate the technology for the geological storage of CO2 in deep saline aquifers.

The Environment Ministers of France and Germany and the Climate Secretary of the UK issued on July 14 a common announcement expressing their determination to press for an Europe-wide 30% greenhouse gas emission reduction goal from 1990 levels by 2020. This would indeed be an essential measure if the EU were to follow a path of sustainable growth and retain its competitiveness in the long-term.

A stakeholder meeting on the draft guidance documents under the EU Directive 2009/31/EC on the Geological Storage of CO2 – also known as the CCS Directive – took place on July 15th at the European Commission in Brussels. All four of the draft guidance documents intended to aid Member States as they transpose the directive into national law before June 2011 were presented and discussed. The guidance document on Articles 19 and 20 on Financial Security and Contribution produced the greatest response from stakeholder attendees.