CCS: ‘Unproven’ Technology

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the shiny new subsidy to complement the more common production subsidies such as tax rebates, investment credits, low royalties, capital cost allowances, insurance guarantees and so on. While developing world subsidises the cost of fuel, the rich nations of the world subsidise costs of fuel exploration and production.

CCS is yet-to-be developed technology intended to strip carbon from the emissions from coal, oil and natural gas energy production which are responsible for 25 percent of global emissions. The carbon is then to be stored underground, under the ocean or somewhere else, hopefully forever.

CCS is behind the much-promoted claims for "clean coal" and clean fuels. Research into CCS has been ongoing for a number of years at a number of small research centres mainly funded by governments in Europe and North America.

"It's an unproven technology. Only a few research centres will receive all that money. That's not going to stimulate economic growth," said Darek Urbaniak of FOE Europe.

Apparently Canada isn't worried about economic growth either since the majority of its 860 million dollars for clean energy in its recent economic stimulus also went in CCS research. In addition, the Canadian province of Alberta has committed an extra 1.75 billion dollars to CCS research, according to John Dillion of Karios, a Canadian social justice organisation.

Alberta, located in western Canada, has become the Saudi Arabia of the North because of its extensive deposits of tar sands. The region has become Canada's largest oil producer and ships over 1.3 million barrels of oil to the U.S. every day.

However making oil from the tar sands - deep tar laden sands underneath the boreal forest - results in the world's "dirtiest oil" with 300 percent higher carbon emissions, making the region Canada's biggest source of emissions.

U.S. President Barack Obama has spoken about the need to use oil from low-carbon production and tax those from higher. And that's why there are massive new investments by government in CCS, Dillion told IPS. "Everything is focused on keeping the tar sands going."

And this newest subsidy is in addition to the estimated 300 million dollars a year that oil companies in the tar sands have been getting the last few years. And they've been on the dole since the 1970s. "There'd be no tar sands without all that government investment", he said.