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2 July 2008 - Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will not be developed in time to mitigate climate change, environmental pressure group Greenpeace said at the inaugural COAL-GEN Europe conference and exhibition in Warsaw, Poland.
Emily Rochon of Greenpeace Netherlands told COAL-GEN Europe delegates: "The technology will be developed too late to mitigate climate change.
"It will not be ready in that critical timeframe in which we need emissions to peak and start falling, so building a coal fired power station today, capture ready or not, does nothing to help us address the climate crisis."
Miss Rochon also attacked the European Union, the International Energy Agency and a large swathe of the power industry for allowing burgeoning 'capture ready' and CCS technology, which has yet to be utilized on a full-scale, commerical level, to be used as justification for continuing to build unabated coal fired power stations.
She said: "The International Energy Agency defines 'capture ready' very loosely as any kind of power station that may be able to be fitted with capture technology at some point in the future, if it exists.
"The European Union is legislating in the blind. We don't have enough information to make sure we can do this safely and it's far too early to be rushing into it. This is a dangerous proposition."
Miss Rochon also attacked CCS for siphoning research funding away from sustainable energy technologies.
Greenpeace, which is also firmly opposed to nuclear energy, suggested that wind power could fill the energy gap, and said that 47 per cent of Poland's primary energy needs (of which 95 per cent are currently met by coal) could be met by biomass.
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