If there is to be any chance of cutting global CO2 emissions, then technologies to capture and store carbon from gas and coal-fired electricity, and industrial processes like steel and cement manufacture, must be developed and applied at scale, chief executive of the ACA Nikki Williams said.

"The world economy needed to burn seven billion tonnes of coal last year and the figure continues to rise,” she said.

"The Australian coal industry is at the forefront in developing and demonstrating these technologies through its Coal21 Fund. CCS technologies offer enormous potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring Australians have a reliable and affordable source of energy."

Williams said that any decision to axe this program was “both short sighted and illogical”

Seventy-five per cent of Australia’s grid electricity is coal-fired, but it received less than $1 billion in assistance to address research, development and demonstration.

"Compare this to wind and solar technologies, which collectively generate just 3% of Australia’s electricity but receive $13 billion in direct subsidies and up to $50 billion in effective industry assistance through the Renewable Energy Target,” Williams said.

"It is most disturbing to note that over the last 20 years, hundreds of billions of dollars have been directed towards increasing the renewable share of the global electricity generating grid but the CO2 intensity of the global energy system has barely shifted.”

Williams said calls from the Australian Greens for the government to target CCS in any cuts to funding for clean energy research shows their ideological bias against the coal industry rather than any desire to find practical ways to lower emissions.

"Less than six months ago an international group of leading environmental organisations, the ENGO Network, urged governments and industry to back CCS as a vital technology for dramatically reducing carbon emissions," she said.