The CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology is since more than ten years
considered one of the key options for the future climate change mitigation.
This paper discusses the implications for the further development of CCS,
particularly with respect to climate change policy in an international
geopolitics context. The rationale for developing CCS should be the
over-abundance of fossil fuel reserves (and resources) in a climate change
context. From a geopolitical point, it can be argued that the most important
outcome from the successful commercialisation of CCS will be that fossil
fuel-dependent economies with large fossil fuel resources will find it easier
to comply with stringent greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets (i.e. to
attach a price to CO2 emissions). This should be of great importance since,
from a geopolitical view, the curbing on GHG emissions cannot be isolated
from security of supply and economic competition between regions. Thus,
successful application of CCS may moderate geopolitical risks related to
regional differences in the possibilities and thereby willingness to comply
with large emission cuts. In Europe, application of CCS will enhance security
of supply by fuel diversification from continued use of coal, especially
domestic lignite. Introduction of CCS will also make possible negative
emissions when using biomass as a fuel, i.e. in so called Biomass Energy CCS
(BECCS). Yet, the development of BECCS relies on the successful development
of fossil fuelled CCS since BECCS in itself is unlikely to be sufficient for
establishing a cost efficient CCS infrastructure for transport and storage
and because BECCS does not solve the problem with the abundant resources of
fossil fuels. Results from research and development of capture, transport and
storage of CO2 indicate that the barriers for commercialization of CCS should
not be technical. Instead, the main barriers for implementation of CCS seem
to be how to reach public acceptance, to reduce cost and to establish a high
enough price on CO2 emissions. Failure to implement CCS will require that the
global community, including Europe, agrees to almost immediately to start
phasing out the use of fossil fuels, an agreement which seems rather
unlikely, especially considering the abundant coal reserves in developing
economies such as China and India.
CO2 Capture and Storage from Fossil Fuel Power Plants
