Ed Miliband

With less than than 50 days to go until Copenhagen, two sets of international climate talks took centre stage in London in recent weeks. China was a key participant in both events.

Ministers from 20 countries - including China - came together to tackle one of the most pressing challenges to a global deal on climate change: coal.

For people who are concerned about the climate as well as keeping the lights on, coal is the fuel we must clean up.
It is one of the most carbon intensive fuels we have, not just when compared to renewables but to other fossil fuels as well. A unit of electricity from a coal fired power station creates approximately twice as much CO2 as a unit of electricity from gas. 

But we can't live without it because it is the mainstay of the electricity grid in so many countries around the world. Coal is cheap and abundant. In the UK, coal provides a third of our electricity. In other countries the number is much higher. Last week I was in Poland where 95% of the country's electricity is generated from coal. In China coal accounts for around 80% of electricity generation. It is very hard to see a secure energy future for the world that does not involve coal.

Last week's conference, jointly hosted by the UK and Norway, focused on the technology that can solve the dilemma: Carbon Capture and Storage.

Carbon Capture and Storage has the potential remove 90% of the CO2 emissions from coal fired power stations. Carbon dioxide is trapped in the flues of power stations and piped into secure long term storage.

CCS has the potential to make coal a low-carbon fuel. Without CCS, the cost of tackling climate change will rise by 70%.

The challenge is that CCS is a new and complex technology. It will take concerted action to take it from the small scale demonstrations we currently have to the default design for power stations. The scale of change needed will rival mankind's great industrial and engineering advance. That change will have to come quickly if we to make the transition in time to meet the climate challenge the world faces.

The UK has already set out bold plans for deployment of CCS.  We have proposed the toughest requirements in the world on new coal-fired power stations and have plans to support up to 4 full commercial scale CCS plants to demonstrate the technology. Billions of pounds to support clean coal technology. China too is developing a substantial programme of R&D on CCS. Arguably it is best positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that will come with the creation of a global market for this advanced technology.

If we are to make the change we need, countries working on CCS need to collaborate to ensure that CCS becomes an option for the biggest users of fossil fuels globally.

Last week in London we discussed global plans for CCS. We discussed with representatives from Europe and China joint plans to develop China's first full commercial scale CCS power plant, the EU/China Near Zero Emissions for Coal project (NZEC). American Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu talked about the plant they already have up and running in America. Working with our partners who also have shores on the North Sea, we discussed the role it can play in storage of extracted CO2.

The wider substance of the Copenhagen deal itself was also discussed in London earlier this week. The 17 members of the Major Economies Forum gathered to develop further a shared understanding and build consensus on some general principles before Copenhagen.

It's a sad irony that those who have contributed the least to causing climate change feel its most severe effects, so I'm pleased that vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, the Maldives and Costa Rica participated in this week's talks too.
There are no second chances with climate change, we cannot waste a day between now and Copenhagen. We must use every single opportunity to push for the most ambitious, effective and fair deal possible.

ENDS