Live Debate: Can carbon capture and storage help the world deal with climate change?

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Jos Delbeke: We really think that the use of fossil fuels is going to be with us also beyond 2020, and that we have to prepare for technologies capable of dealing and using fossil fuels in a sustainable manner. So all technologies are going to be important - energy efficient, renewable technology. We will see also a share of nuclear energy generation in Europe but primarily what we are going to do on carbon capture and storage is going to make a major difference beyond 2020.

So we think that our Directive is a good balance between, on the one hand, the technological potential, the environmental constraints we have to respect, and the management of risks that are related to this technology.

So we believe in carbon capture and storage. I think that part of the package is about the technologies of the future. We want to grasp this opportunity and we hope that, not only the power sector and the oil and gas sector is going to look into that, but also industrial activities, where a lot of carbon emissions are happening, like in the steel sector or in the cement sector, are going to look into this.

Chris Davies: Simply because of the huge potential this offers to making a real difference. And I may say that I look at some of the other proposals and declarations coming from the Council and I’m sceptical about our chances of meeting the targets being set. I look at these things from the UK point of view and I see, for example, if we look at renewables, that the UK is supposed to go from getting 2% of its energy from renewable sources to 15% within 13 years; and I don’t see any chance of my country achieving that target as things stand at the present time.

Mahi Sideridou: A new coal plant is being built and we say don’t worry, it’s capture ready. This term is actually absolutely meaningless, technically, financially. It just means that at some point in the future, yes, carbon capture and storage comes online, then this plant can be equipped with it. Then the consequence by accepting this terminology is that we’re actually accepting a green-washing of a very polluting power station.

The reason Greenpeace does not support carbon capture and store, the reason why we do have concerns about this technology is because we think that it could potentially be a political or a financial distraction. We’re now hearing that state aid guidelines are being amended so that it can be allowed. Public money should be going into this end of type technology that should actually be privately funded rather than publicly funded. So we have a lot of concerns that this technology will be this false hope which will actually undermine efforts to stop climate change rather than support them.

Martin Brough: Whether CCS within that framework would actually work or not, I’d be very reluctant to go down that road because I think this is precisely what we should be trying to avoid predicting - is trying to pick the winners and say we need a target of X gigawatts by 2020 or 2040, other than the initial start-ups schemes just to prove the technology works. But, as I say, to me, the politics, the legal side and the science is moving on apace, but I think the economics has to catch up.

Hans van der Loo: Now I come to CCS, and I would like to begin by saying it is not a silver bullet, I agree with that. It is certainly not a silver bullet. It's part of the bouquet of solutions. In actual fact, the three hard truths that I just mentioned to you, they came under a lady's name called TINA in the old scenarios, and TINA was There Is No Alternative to globalisation and demographic growth; those things will happen. And TINA has actually got a daughter and we will put her daughter up for baptism on 7th April here in Brussels and I can give you a scoop. The daughter's name is TANIA and TANIA stands for There Are No Ideal Answers.

Event Information

Welcome to the eighth Comment event.

The debate will be moderated by Jennifer Rankin, European Voice’s environment and energy reporter.

The discussion will focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS) and will address questions such as:

• Is CCS viable and when?
• Does CCS increase reliance on fossil fuels?
• Will CCS divert resources away from developing renewable sources of energy?
• Who is responsible if stored carbon dioxide leaks?

Event Panel/Moderator

Jennifer Rankin

Jennifer Rankin is the environment and energy reporter at European Voice. She also covers farming, fisheries, health, transport, science and research policy at the paper.

She joined European Voice in November 2007, having worked in Brussels as a freelance journalist for one year. During this time she wrote for European Voice, The Economist (newspaper and Europe blog), the Independent, the Scotsman and several Brussels-based magazines. In 2006 she was a winner of the Nico Colchester Journalism Fellowship awarded by The Economist and the Financial Times.

Before becoming a journalist, Jennifer was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a UK think tank. At the Institute she wrote several pamphlets on reforming health and social care services in the UK and was a regular contributor to national and specialist press. She has a degree from Cambridge University and a Masters from Oxford University.

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Jos Delbeke

Delbeke is Director of 'Climate Change and Air' of the European Commission's DG Environment. In this capacity he oversees inter alia the Clean Air for Europe programme (CAFE), the implementation of the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) and legislation such as on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), on large combustion plants (LCP), waste incineration, and the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER). He was also responsible for chemical legislation and the creation of the new REACH system.

He holds a PhD in economics and teaches at the University of Leuven and at VLEKHO Business School in Brussels. In 1985, he was a temporary staff member at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC, and joined the European Commission in 1986. In the Directorate General for Environment he has been Head of Unit responsible first for economic and fiscal instruments and benefit-cost analysis in the field of the environment, and later for climate change. He was the chief negotiator for the European Commission at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, and is actively promoting the use of the Kyoto mechanisms at EU level.

Chris Davies

Chris Davies has been the Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West of England since 1999 and is the ALDE Group Co-ordinator on the European Parliament's Environment Committee.

He was a shadow rapporteur when plans for an Emissions Trading System were first introduced by the Commission, drafted Parliament's opinion on plans to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars, and is set to play a key role in Parliament's scrutiny of the regulatory framework for Carbon Capture and Storage.

Mahi Sideridou

Mahi Sideridou is the EU climate and policy director for Greenpeace.

She has studied physics, with a focus on climatology.

Before Greenpeace she worked as a climate researcher in the US and for an engineering office in Greece.

Martin Brough

Martin leads Oxera's work in energy, specialising in analysis of the implications of commercial, political and regulatory responses to the challenges facing the energy sector.

Martin previously worked as Director in the Pan-European Utilities equities research team at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (2000-06), which was consistently one of the top-ranked teams in the sector. He was the top UK stockpicker among 1,100 analysts across all sectors in terms of the performance of his recommendations in both 2002 and 2003, winning the UK StarMine/Sunday Times award in both years.

From 1998 to 2000, he was a UK utilities equities research analyst with Commerzbank. There, he initiated coverage on the UK energy sector in 1999 with a report, 'Pulling the Plug on Generation', correctly anticipating the collapse in UK electricity wholesale prices and the negative impact on the UK generation companies.

Martin previously worked for Oxera (1993-98), specialising in the energy sector. He built up the energy wholesale modelling business, and worked for companies in the electricity, gas, water, transport and telecoms sectors, government departments and agencies, large industrial companies, regulators and financial institutions.

Tags: Carbon Capture and Storage, Carbon Emissions, Energy, Environment
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