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World Coal
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December 2015
Coal News
Coal News
T
he international coal industry has
been setting out its stall ahead of
the UN climate change talks (COP21) in
Paris this month, calling for low‑emission
coal technologies and carbon capture
and storage (CCS) to be placed on an
equal policy footing as other low‑carbon
energy sources.
“Environmental imperatives, energy
security, economic development and an
end to poverty are issues which are
inextricably linked,” said
Benjamin Sporton, CEO of the World Coal
Association (WCA) on the release of it’s
COP21 policy position. “In order to
achieve emissions reductions consistent
with international climate objectives, we
need to balance these issues, recognising
the importance of low-cost energy and the
need to widen the deployment of all
low-emission technologies.”
It’s all about HELE
High-efficiency low-emission (HELE) coal
technologies, such as supercritical and
ultra-supercritical boiler technologies, can
significantly reduce emissions from
coal-fired plants and have featured
prominently in the coal industry’s build
up to COP21. The WCA estimates that,
were the average efficiency of the current
fleet of coal-fired power plants raised from
33% to 40% using off‑the‑shelf HELE
technologies, 2 billion t of carbon
emissions would be avoided – the
equivelent of India’s annual CO
2
emissions.
“Effective implementation will depend
on sensible policy action,”
Peabody Energy said in its message to
negotiators in Paris. “Fundamental to this
is the acknowledgement of practical
realities, one of which is the increasingly
essential role played by coal in meeting
the world’s energy needs.” According to
the US coal company, coal currently
provides nearly 30% of global primary fuel
consumption, while International Energy
Agency data shows global coal demand is
now approaching that of oil.
“The application of advanced
technologies in the use of the world’s coal
resources presents a ready-today solution
of UN negotiators and energy
policymakers worldwide,” Peabody
continued. “Technology is the bridge to a
low-emission future for countries
experiencing increasing electricity demand
within their growing economies. It is also
a bridge being built rapidly in scores of
projects throughout India, China, Japan
and South Korea, across southeast Asia
and on the African continent.”
But don’t forget CCS
Complementing a focus on more
widespread use of HELE coal technologies
should be a push to bring CCS commercial
readiness with the WCA calling for “global
invesment” in CCS and pointing out that,
while renewable energy technology is the
recipient of US$100 billion/yr, research
into CCS is only a fraction of that. This is
despite the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) saying that
climate action will be 138% more
expensive, if not impossible, without
widespread deployment of CCS
technology.
According to the WCA, if
comprehensive policy and financial
support is provided for CCS over the
coming decade, including policy parity, it
is realistic to believe that a transition
toward no new unabated fossil fuels could
begin in the late 2020s.
Yet CCS development hit a major
setback last month when the UK
government withdrew £1 billion of
funding for its CCS Commercialisation
Competition just months before the money
was due to be allocated and despite an
election pledge to support CCS
development from the ruling Conservative
Party. The decision was described by Dr
Luke Warren, CEO of the UK’s CCS
Association called “devastating”.
“Only six months ago the government’s
manifesto committed £1 billion of funding
for CCS,” Warren continued. “Moving the
goalposts just at the time when a four year
competition is about to conclude is an
appalling way to do business.”
Warren’s comments were echoed by
Frederic Hauge, President of the
Bellona Foundation, who accused the UK
government of “breaking trust with the
engineers, specialists and farsighted
companies that are desperately needed to
develop CCS into a global deployed
technology.”
And don’t follow the CPP
Finally, the American Coal Council used
the opportunity created by COP21 to take
a swipe at those campaigning for coal
resources to be left in the ground – and the
US Environmental Protection Agency’s
Clean Power Plan (CPP).
“The key to emissions reductions lies
not in leaving essential energy sources in
the ground, but in continuing to develop
technologies for lowering emissions while
continuing to use those resources,” the
ACC said in a written statement. In
contrast, the CPP for existing and new
power plants would “thwart technology
development for greenhouse gas
reduction.”
“Clearly, EPA’s rules are not a
solution,” the ACC concludes. “They
would have the negative consequence of
increasing US energy costs and driving
energy intensive businesses to other
countries with far less stringent
environmental requirements, including for
carbon emissions. This ‘leakage’ could
increase global emissions.”
INTERNATIONAL
The global coal industry sets out its case ahead of COP21
