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UN Approves CO2 Capture for Emissions Market in 'Great Success'
2010-12-11 17:44:12.605 GMT
By Mathew Carr and Alex Morales
Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations envoys approved
carbon capture and storage projects in the developing world as
eligible for greenhouse-gas offsets, a "great success" for
climate protection, said Nobuo Tanaka, executive director for
the International Energy Agency.
"If that is accepted, it is a great success," Tanaka said
in an interview in Cancun prior to the final endorsement by UN
envoys early today. The Clean Development Mechanism is the
world's second-biggest carbon market by trading volume after the
European Union greenhouse-gas program.
The world needs about 3,400 carbon-capture and storage
projects by 2050, up from five now, and approving the technology
under the CDM was a "litmus test" for this month's climate
talks in Cancun, Tanaka said Dec. 6 at a briefing in the Mexican
resort city. The talks ended today.
Countries "decided that carbon capture and storage in
geological formations is eligible as project activities under
the CDM, provided issues, such as permanence, boundaries and
safety, are addressed and resolved," the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change said today in an emailed statement.
Carbon capture and storage, or CCS, is an experimental
technology. It would siphon off carbon dioxide emissions from
power plants and factories and pump the gas underground for
permanent storage. CO2 emissions are blamed for damaging the
atmosphere. Decisions about whether to include the technology in
the CDM had been delayed for at least two years because of
questions about whether it will work and whether it's suitable
for developing countries.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
Renewable Energy Stories: NI ALTNRG <GO>
--Editors: Marthe Fourcade, Dick Schumacher.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
Alex Morales in Cancun at +44-20-7330-7718 or
amorales2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or landberg@bloomberg.net
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net;
