More from the Clean Energy Ministerial

The Clean Energy Ministerial also had more to say on carbon capture and storage.

At the 2011 CEM meeting in Abu Dhabi, the CEM Carbon Capture, Use and Storage Action Group (CCUS AG) presented seven recommendations on concrete, near-term actions to accelerate global carbon capture and storage deployment. This week, at the 2012 CEM meeting in London, the IEA and Global CCS Institute presented a report tracking progress made against the 2011 recommendations and focusing on key questions such as how Energy Ministers can continue to drive progress to enable CCS to fully contribute to climate change mitigation. It concludes that, despite developments in some areas, significant further work is required. CCS financing and industrial applications continue to represent a particularly serious challenge.

Interestingly, it was reported in Canada’s Globe and Mail that a major CCS project in Alberta has been scrapped.  The project linked to three coal-fired power plants, would have accounted for about 20 per cent of Alberta’s total carbon dioxide emissions reduction target by 2015.  The project, worth $1.4 billion (€1.08 billion) is said to highlight the ineffectiveness of carbon pricing in Alberta as well as problems with regulations tied to power plants.  The Globe and Mail wrote that it comes as a hit to the province’s public relations campaign, which leans heavily on its $2-billion CCS technology fund and provincial carbon tax as evidence it is committed to cleaning up the environment.