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Carbon Capture and Storage has been identified by EU leaders as an essential tool for decarbonising our economy.
However, five years after the introduction of a legal framework for the development of CCS,
and despite political and financial support, the EU is lagging behind the rest of the world. 4 00:00:17,01 --> 00:00:21,01 CCS is most certainly an essential tool in decarbonizing the economy.
All of the indications from all of the analysis point to the fact that we will continue to use fossil fuels
as part of our energy mix going forward. 7 00:00:28,01 --> 00:00:30,01 For all of the investments we are making in renewable energy,
coal and gas remain at the very heart of the world’s electricity production.
I think if we want to decarbonize our electricity generation, 10 00:00:37,01 --> 00:00:40,01 there has to be a significant role for carbon capture and storage.
CCS may or may not be an essential part of the response to the climate change situation.
We don’t know yet because it’s not been demonstrated.
We would like to see a demonstration of the capture technology in practice.
We have some experience in that area, small scale in Europe.
If you go around the world, it is important to note 16 00:01:01,01 --> 00:01:07,01 that there are demonstration plants, at scale, in the United States and in Australia.
There is no economic rationale for investing in carbon capture and storage
other than preventing the emission of Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 19 00:01:18,01 --> 00:01:21,01 So there has to be a financial mechanism put in place
to support companies that want to make this investment.
It costs society as a whole more to decarbonize without carbon capture and storage. 22 00:01:29,01 --> 00:01:31,01 It may cost up to a trillion dollars more.
The long-term costs suggest that CCS will be cheaper than subsidizing
the development of offshore wind and much, much cheaper 25 00:01:38,01 --> 00:01:43,01 than the cost of developing solar energy, particularly in the north parts of Europe
where the sun doesn’t shine so much.
If we look at say, the electricity sector, then we did some 28 00:01:48,01 --> 00:01:55,01 kind of calculation if we actually remove CCS as a tool for decarbinizing the electricity sector.
Then the total cost actually would rise significantly by over forty percent.
Whether the pricing mechanism is a direct one or an indirect one, 31 00:02:07,01 --> 00:02:13,01 it’s still energy consumers that will pay for the pollution control technologies.
How that’s done is all sorts of different ways and
it can go through government taxes if you like. 34 00:02:18,01 --> 00:02:22,01 But one way or another, the producers have got to be subsidized,
otherwise it’s not going to happen.
But, there is a problem with public acceptance. 37 00:02:28,01 --> 00:02:33,01 I think the public is quite prepared to have an inflammable gas like Methane underneath their feet,
but at the moment it’s not prepared to have an inert gas like CO2
even if they drink it in their beer and coke. 41 00:02:40,01 --> 00:02:43,01 In the end of the day, this will have to be a political framework
that will be put in place.
Governments will have to make the decision to do that, 44 00:02:47,01 --> 00:02:51,01 and they are the best people to communicate with their citizens and voters.
We have to reestablish political will.
The leading politicians, in recent years, have set aside the climate change problem. 47 00:03:00,01 --> 00:03:05,01 That’s a mistake. The longer we leave it, the more difficult it will be to catch up,
and the more expensive it will be to catch up.
There is no other option other than CCS in terms of taking Carbon Dioxide 50 00:03:13,01 --> 00:03:16,01 out of the atmosphere if we are to achieve our climate objectives.
We asked our debate audience:
Is the EU moving fast enough in the deployment of CCS? 53 00:03:25,01 --> 00:03:28,01 What are the prospects of future development of CCS in Europe?
and what are the possible implications for EU climate and energy policy?
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