All coal plants to be fitted with CCS from 2015 say MEPs

摘要

The European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee wants all large power stations built from 2015 onwards to be equipped with the new carbon capture and storage technology (CCS), which stores CO_2 emissions "permanently and safely underground" in geological formations, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, it said in a co-decision vote in Brussels on 7 October. Adopted 54 votes in favour, one against and six abstentions, MEPs backed a cross-party plan to use up to 500 million allowances from the emissions trading scheme (ETS) to meet the additional costs of CCS installation. The value of the support mechanism will depend on the price of CO_2 when the gas is eventually buried underground, but it is understood that it could easily exceed E∪D10 billion.