Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally launched the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute at the first meeting of Institute foundation members in Canberra today.
The Institute is being established by the Government to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology globally and will receive annual Federal funding of $100 million.
Founding members of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute include the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America and the European Commission. 40 major companies have also signed on as foundation members.
The Australian government believes that carbon capture and storage has the potential to play an important role in the global transition to a low carbon economy.
Critics have questioned whether the concept of what’s popularly termed "clean coal" or "new generation coal" is really viable both in practice and as an exit strategy from fossil fuel consumption; or just a means for a business as usual approach to the environmentally damaging process of coal mining; which CCS technologies do not address.
Some environmentalist groups believe the Government’s focus on clean coal has been at the expense of investment in alternative energy sources, such as the establishment of a national gross feed in tariff scheme. According to a report on the ABC, Phil Freeman from the Australian Conservation Foundation stated "We should be focusing in Australia right now on the solutions that are ready and available – that’s solar, that’s wind."
