Carbon Emissions From British Generators Grow - WWF
Date: 29-Mar-07
Country: UK
It attributed the rise to an increase in coal burning for electricity generation as utilities turned to the fuel as an alternative to more expensive natural gas.
Coal produces more than twice as much CO2 per unit of energy produced as burning gas.
Power generators have said one future way to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants may be to trap and then bury CO2 underground, an experimental technology, but start-up of demonstration projects is around five years off.
"In a Europe which is supposed to be leading on climate change it's not good enough to be building coal plants without serious, credible commitments for carbon capture and storage (CCS)," said WWF's Keith Allott.
WWF estimated UK power sector emissions in 2006 at 178 million tonnes of CO2, up 6 percent on 2005.
In its report "UK Power Sector Emissions - targets or reality" WWF said it wanted tougher policies to drive down consumption of energy, and more support for low-carbon energy sources like wind.
A spokeswoman at the Department of Trade and Industry said: "Emissions from electricity generation are down substantially on 1990 levels ... They have risen more recently, something we are aiming to stem through measures to bring on more low carbon energy".
The government has already said it will provide financial support for one or more CCS demonstration plants.
Generators were looking for around 300 million pounds (US$590 million) in grants for each plant, a source close to one utility said on Tuesday.
"You'd be looking for hundreds of millions of pounds in a lump sum capital grant," said a spokesman for E.ON UK, referring to support needed for CCS at a planned coal-fired power plant.
That plant could come on stream by 2012, the spokesman added. Another utility, Centrica, was also eyeing a 2012 start-up and capital support for CCS at a planned coal plant in Teesside, in northeast England, a Centrica spokesman said.
European Union leaders said earlier this month they would cut the bloc's greenhouse gases by at least a fifth by 2020. Britain this month proposed legislation requiring a legally binding carbon emissions cut of 26 to 32 percent by 2020.
"It raises serious concerns about whether on current polices the UK government can get close to its proposed 2020 target," WWF said of its findings.