perhaps only – technology to address this problem is carbon capture and storage . Renewables offer very limited potential in this area . Yet there are few policies in the world to incentivise investment in CCS in industrial processes . In power generation , the installed stock of fossil fuel plants is so great , much of it will not be retired in the next 30 years . Additionally more than 2000 new coal fired generators are planned for construction by 2030 . Without CCS applied to these facilities there is little hope of achieving the Paris climate objectives . The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report was clear that achieving the now base target of 2OC , was likely to be more than 130 % more costly without the widespread deployment of CCS and that the majority of the models examined concluded it was unachievable without CCS . They are not alone . The Brookings Institution , the UK Committee on Climate Change and the Grantham Research Institute have all reported on the vital role of CCS in dealing with climate change . The technologies to deal with climate change exist or are in development . We need them all and we need to keep developing them . Key among these is CCS :
• It is proven – 15 operating projects capturing and storing up to 28 million tonnes of CO2 every year attest to this ;
• It has wide applicability with plants operating in natural gas processing , power generation , fertiliser manufacture , biofuel production , hydrogen production and shortly steel making ;
• It supports existing communities and economies with energy intensive and fossil fuel industries that must move to a low emission future ; and
• It is safe as 20 years of the operation of the Sleipner storage field in Norway .
It is now urgent that Governments implement visionary policies to unlock the unprecedented amount of capital that is required to transform the global energy system while also allowing developing countries to meet their energy poverty challenge . This requires every very low and zero emission technology to be strongly encouraged with government policies that are enduring , reliable and efficient , allowing the business case to be made and for the investment to flow . Without this the Paris Agreement will be unachievable . ■
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