Carbon capture and storage : wishful thinking or a meaningful part of the climate change solution

In the lead-up to the climate change negotiations that are scheduled to take place in Copenhagen towards the end of 2009, pursuant to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and in order to reach agreement on a post-Kyoto Protocol international climate change regime, many countries around the globe are considering the options available to them to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a manner that will minimize the cost impacts to economies already battered from the onslaught of the 2008 global financial crisis. In addition to confronting a markedly changed geopolitical landscape including the election of a new administration in the United States under the Democrats and President Barack Obama, the ongoing military confrontation between Hamas and the Israelis in Gaza, an outbreak of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and Iran drawing ever closer to the possible development of nuclear weapons, the international community is facing what is predicted by some to be the most severe and prolonged economic downturn since the 1930s and the Great Depression. The collapse of the banking systems in several countries triggered in part by the sub-prime [*422] mortgage crisis in the United States has inevitably led to a credit crisis around the globe as job layoffs are expected to climb throughout 2009 and into 2010. The impact of these events on the ability of the international community to address the climate change challenges that lie ahead is fraught with uncertainty and the reluctance of the world's major coal producers to abandon or curtail an industry of vital economic importance in terms of both jobs and exports, has elevated carbon capture and storage (CCS) to increasing levels of importance in the consideration of available energy options. It remains to be seen whether the attention and investment dollars presently committed to the development of CCS technologies around the globe is warranted. This paper will endeavor to outline how CCS is currently viewed by Australia and the European Union as part of their respective energy strategies.