Quotations

 

NOAH - Friends of the Earth Denmark

"Through the establishment of direct injection of waste flows from the consumer society to the underground CCS opens up a whole new chapter in waste policy in the European Union. Once CO2 dumps are full the public is supposed to assume all liabilities from the private operators . This means that citizens / taxpayers will pay for this large scale experiment, if something goes wrong or the CO2- waste repository behaves unexpectedly. We believe that CCS is a technology that should absolutely not be promoted with public funds. It is a non-solution to CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. It is expensive, it significantly lowers energy efficiency, and above all it will serve to prolong the regime of coal indefinitely."(2009)

Philip Vergragt, Professor

"CCS should rather be seen as a new strategy from the fossil energy industry to consolidate their dominance of the market. Rather than acting as a bridge technology, large investments in CCS installations are likely to contribute to the continuation of the fossil reign and inhibit the development of alternatives. "(2009)

Nicholas Stern

"High carbon growth will kill itself." (2009)

Worldwatch.org

"What is clear is that there will not be a large-scale deployment of CCS in the next 10-15 years. If this time is used for the ambitious development and diffusion of renewable sources, the argument for CCS as a bridge to renewable energy will lose its force. "(2009)

DONG Energy

"One of the biggest challenges of CCS is the development of less energy-consuming processes. The current technology is highly energy intensive. It means that it is not yet economically feasible to deploy the technology." (2009)

"No to CO2 storage" (Local group, Nordjylland)

"We simply do not want the CO2 storage. Why would we want such a store that our descendants would have to put up with in 1000 years when so many options for alternative energy are at hand." Asger Møller Madsen, farmer. (2009)

Margrete Auken, MEP

"Vattenfall's plans to deploy a CO2 storage facility in the Birkelse area should be taken off the table immediately. It is a waste of time and money." (2009)

Henrik Lund, Professor

"Denmark has a political objective to stop burning coal, oil and gas. Former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has repeatedly stated that Denmark should get rid of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. The current prime minister has concurred. Thus, there is no logic in building storage sites for CO2. Storing preconditions burning of more coal. Vattenfall's plans for an underground CO2 storage in Nordjylland will cost some 400 million euros to realize. And increase coal consumption significantly.

Vattenfall

"Although fossil fuels to some might sound like something that has long passed the" best before date " the stark reality is that nearly 80 percent of total energy needs in the global economy is met by fossil fuels. That´s a fact we have to face. Instead of just abandoning coal, we have decided to invest in the development of systems that can capture and store CO2. It is our hope that this technology will be disseminated and used throughout the world in a transitional period until a replacement for fossil fuels is found. We find it irresponsible to neglect the consequences of the share of energy production that must necessarily come from coal or other fossil fuels. "Bjarne Korshøj, director of Vattenfall's thermal power plants in Scandinavia, 2008

EU Commission

"We have to make CCS the norm for new power plants and establish 12 demonstration plants by 2015, "Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the EU Commission, 2008.

Greenpeace

"Climate experts say the worst impacts of climate change can be averted by levelling off global warming pollution by 2015 and turning down the burner after that. But the earliest that CCS will be ready is 2030. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is even less optimistic. The IPCC doesn't see CCS being commercially viable until even later - around 2050." (2007)

EU Directorate-General for the Environment

" The world will fail to halve emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2050 without the deployment of technology to capture and store the emissions spewed out from fossil-fuel burning power plants " Stavros Dimas, EU Commissioner for the Environment, 2008.

G8 (Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, France, Germany, Russia, the United States) GLENEAGLES PLAN OF ACTION - CLIMATE CHANGE, CLEAN ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT "

To respond to the scale of the challenges we face, we need to diversify our energy supply mix, including increased use of renewables. Fossil fuels will continue to be an important part of the global energy mix, and we will need to find ways to manage the associated air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. We need to capitalise on all the opportunities available to improve the efficiency along the entire process chain, from extraction, to energy generation and transmission, and to maximise the large and untapped potential of lower-emitting alternative sources of energy. " " We will work to accelerate the development and commercialization of Carbon Capture and Storage technology by: (a) endorsing the objectives and activities of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF), and encouraging the Forum to work with broader civil society and to address the barriers to the public acceptability of CCS technology; (b) inviting the IEA to work with the CSLF to hold a workshop on short-term opportunities for CCS in the fossil fuel sector, including from Enhanced Oil Recovery and CO2 removal from natural gas production; (c) inviting the IEA to work with the CSLF to study definitions, costs, and scope for 'capture ready' plant and consider economic incentives; (d) collaborating with key developing countries to research options for geological CO2 storage; and (e) working with industry and with national and international research programmes and partnerships to explore the potential of CCS technologies, including with developing countries. " 2005.

G8 + 3 (Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, France, Germany, Russia, the United States + China, India and South Korea)

" We strongly support the recommendation that 20 large-scale CCS demonstration projects need to be launched globally by 2010 ... with a view to supporting technology development and cost reduction for the beginning of broad deployment of CCS by 2020." 2008.

IEA (International Energy Agency)

" If deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are required, (to meet the UNFCC goal of stabilisation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions), then one method that could be used is CO2 capture and storage (CCS)." " Approximately one third of all CO2 emissions due to human activity come from fossil fuels used for generating electricity, with each power plant capable of emitting several million tonnes of CO2 annually. A variety of other industrial processes also emit large amounts of CO2 from each plant, for example oil refineries, cement works, and iron and steel production. These emissions could be reduced substantially, without major changes to the basic process, by capturing and storing the CO2. " 2008.

IPCC, (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

Special Report - Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage : " CCS has the potential to reduce overall mitigation costs and increase flexibility in achieving greenhouse gas emission reductions. The widespread application of CCS would depend on technical maturity, costs, overall potential, diffusion and transfer of the technology to developing countries and their capacity to apply the technology, regulatory aspects, environmental issues and public perception ." " The Third Assessment Report (TAR) indicates that no single technology option will provide all of the emission reductions needed to achieve stabilization, but a portfolio of mitigation measures will be needed. "2005.

UNFCCC , (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary

" The IPCC has identified carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) as the most promising technology for the rapid reduction of global emissions: up to 55% by 2100. As part of a portfolio of solutions, CCS is an important bridge to a more sustainable energy system, and therefore a key solution for combating climate change. If CCS is to be employed at a large scale it requires stable, market-based funding mechanisms that close the cost-gap between energy production with and without CCS. A continuation of the carbon market post-2012, ie beyond the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, could enable CCS to be included in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)... Moreover, a continuation of a stringent emission reduction targets post-2012 and rapid implementation towards this end will drive a more rapid transition to climate- friendly technologies, including CCS, and in this way continue to provide space for oil. With appropriate technology development and deployment and non-fuel uses, essential fossil fuels can and will continue to play their role. " 2007.

Stern Review

" CCS is essential to maintain the role of coal in providing secure and reliable energy for many economies ." "The forecast growth in emissions from coal, especially in China and India, means CCS technology has particular importance." 2006.

ETP-ZEP (European Technology Platform - Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants)

" It is not feasible to let all CCS costs be paid by utilities, the shareholders would not allow it." (Robert van der Lande, ETP-ZEP) 2008.

CCSA (Carbon Capture and Storage Association)

"There is nothing stopping CCS but policy." (Jeff Chapman, CCSA) 2008.

Al Gore

"I think it is quite responsible to support robust research into whether or not it might in the future become possible to safely capture and sequester CO2 from coal plants. But we should not delude ourselves about the likelihood that that´s going to occur in the near term or even in the mid term. It is extremely expensive. There is not a single large scale demonstration plant anywhere in the US. The research is one thing. We must avoid becoming vulnerable to the illusion that this is near at hand. It is not. And as a result I believe that we must not have any more conventional dirty coal plants that do not capture and sequester CO2."

UK MP´s

"If Darling (UK Chancellor) needs an example of something he should be spending money on it is CCS. We would write the cheques." (Greg Barker, Conservative MP, UK)

"We should not forget that CCS is not a long term sustainable solution; we can´t pump CO2 into the underground forever. But it can give us a short term solution until 2050." (Elliot Morley, Labour MP, UK)

Todd Stern Special Envoy for Climate Change Senate Hart Office Building Washington, DC March 3, 2009 Keynote Remarks at US Climate Action Symposium

" Countries that sink their treasure now into a dirty coal infrastructure or high-carbon production methods are not only jeopardizing the health of the planet, they are jeopardizing their own economic future. Think about the companies that bet on typewriters as the first personal computers rolled off the assembly lines. Or think of the auto companies who bet on SUVs as oil supplies started tightening and a world of carbon constraints started coming into view. Companies and countries have a choice now. Choosing the low-carbon path will take significant upfront investment and it will take a great deal of hard work. But it will put them on the right side of history."