Bellona CCS Newsletter – 11 January 2010, Issue 14

Dear reader,

Happy new year! We thank you for feedback and suggestions during the past months, and hope this newsletter will be of interest to you also in 2010. Comments and suggestions for the content of the newsletter are still most welcome! If you do not wish to receive the newsletter, please write to veronica(at)bellona.org.
Best wishes,
Veronica Webster

In this issue:

§ COP15: No progress on CCS under UN’s CDM at COP15
§ EU: Bellona publishes “Guidelines for public consultation and participation in CCS projects”
§ DENMARK: Denmark's DONG Energy abandons another coal power plant
§ FINLAND: Maersk, Fortum and TVO announce joint CCS project in Finland
§ FRANCE: CCS part of €35bn French “grand loan” to boost economy
§ NETHERLANDS: Dutch NGO-industry coalition presents statement to Dutch PM urging further regulation in power sector
§ POLAND: McKinsey publish report on GHG abatement potential for Poland

COP15: No progress on CCS under UN’s CDM at COP15

No progress was made on including CCS in the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) during the UN climate talks in Copenhagen – the so-called COP15 – despite lobbying efforts by countries such as the UK or Saudi Arabia. Although the inclusion of CCS in the UN CDM was perceived to be unlikely from the offset, the fact that CCS was kept in the negotiated text until the final stages of the negotiations indicates widespread acceptance of the technology as an essential and inevitable part of the solution to climate change. All eyes are now set on COP16 in Mexico in December 2010.

Read more on the Bellona website.

EU: Bellona publishes “Guidelines for public consultation and participation in CCS projects”

Bellona publishes “Guidelines for public consultation and participation in CCS projects”, a guide intended for CCS stakeholders – developers, public authorities, financiers, project operators – which sets out preliminary recommendations for the development of safe and effective CCS projects. The guide outlines how the creation of public confidence in individual CCS projects is most effective when addressed at key stages of the project’s technical advancement.

Read more on the Bellona website.

DENMARK: Denmark's DONG Energy abandons another coal power plant

In October, Danish utility company DONG Energy announced that it was abandoning plans to build three coal-fired power plants without CCS in Scotland, Germany and England. DONG Energy has now announced that it would also abandon plans to build an unabated coal plant in Lubmin, Germany. This is good news as the plant would have emitted 9 million tonnes of CO2 per year, making the Lubmin station one of the bigger plants in DONG energy’s portfolio.

Read more at the Bellona website.

FINLAND: Maersk, Fortum and TVO announce joint CCS project in Finland

Finnish utilities Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) in cooperation with the Danish A.P. Moller – Maersk Group have announced a joint CCS venture, which will involve capturing CO2 at the Meri-Pori coal-fired power plant in Finland and transporting it by ship for geological storage in depleted oil and gas fields in the Danish North Sea.

Read more at the Bellona website.

FRANCE: CCS part of €35bn French “grand loan” to boost economy

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has unveiled the initial details of a “grand loan” of €35 billion to help boost the French economy, of which €2.5 billion has been earmarked for renewables and CCS.

Read more at the Bellona website and La Tribune.

NETHERLANDS: Dutch NGO-industry coalition presents statement to Dutch PM urging further regulation in power sector

A group of representatives from Dutch NGOs and industry have presented a statement to Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende demanding stronger political action to cut CO2 emissions. The statement emphasises the need for further regulation to stop unabated coal plants whilst introducing CCS to ensure carbon neutrality in the power sector by 2025. An Emission Performance Standard (EPS) would provide the regulatory certainty that could push CCS forward, whilst complementing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) which is at present proving an insufficient GHG abatement measure.

Read more at the Bellona website.

POLAND: McKinsey publish report on GHG abatement potential for Poland

McKinsey & Co. has published a report containing a greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement cost curve which summarises the technical opportunities available for Poland to meet necessary CO2 emission reductions by 2030, at a cost of up to €80 per tonne CO2 emitted. The results show that for coal-dependent Poland, CCS represents a considerable abatement opportunity which is due to become greater as the technology develops and moves forward. At present, the report shows that just over a half of the GHG abatement potential – amounting to 20 million tonnes of CO2 emitted – is linked to equipping coal power plants with CCS.

Read more at the Bellona website and and the full McKinsey report here.