Re-launch of carbon capture & storage is the same old spin

MEDIA RELEASE - 4 August 2015

The Greens NSW mining spokesperson today slammed the Minerals Council of Australia’s re-launch of carbon capture and storage (CCS), saying that it was a desperate attempt to delay the phase out of coal and that Australians would not be fooled by glossy brochures promoting a technology that is unviable and uneconomic.

“In 2003 the coal industry launched Coal21 Initiative, that promised ultra-supercritical coal plants and CCS by 2015, but 12 years on we are still operating fifty year old power stations and CCS is still a pipedream,” said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

“Re-launching CCS is just more bullshit from a desperate industry trying to delay the exit date.

“CCS was used to delay action on climate change for about a decade with the promise of a silver bullet technology.  We now know it is nonsense and should not be taken seriously by the media, politicians or the public.

“There is only one commercial scale CCS plant on the planet, and that only captures a tiny amount of carbon dioxide.  CCS is far too expensive, too energy intensive, too complex, and cannot be retrofitted to existing power stations.  It’s a lemon, and everyone knows it but the coal lobby.

“Solar, wind and battery storage technology is now cost-competitive with fossil fuels and renewable energy is clearly the future of our energy systems.

“Climate change is a serious issue and it is irresponsible for the coal industry to continue to push CCS to delay action.  It’s like tobacco companies pushing light cigarettes as the answer to lung cancer.

“China and the United States are implementing ambitious policies to phase out coal, while Australia looks like a delusional crank, set to be embarrassed at the upcoming Paris Conference on climate change.”

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