The London-based institute made its call as the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations lent their support to technologies tackling climate change, specifically CCS, at their G8 summit in Japan this week.

World Coal chief executive Milton Catelin welcomed the G8 commitment to tackling climate change but warned governments should be under “no illusions” about the future costs of low carbon energy.

“A low carbon energy system – regardless of the technology – is more expensive than existing energy systems,” Catelin said.

“Indeed a low carbon energy system is even more expensive if CCS is excluded.

“But an early investment in CCS saves money over the long run and even more importantly, it speeds up our ability to make a significant difference on climate change mitigation.”

Catelin called for climate rhetoric to be matched with investment in CCS technology.

The non-profit, non-government coal institute said there were five steps needed to implement CCS, including support for commercial-scale CCS demonstration projects, inclusion of CCS in the Kyoto Protocol and international cooperation on CCS.

This week the G8 nations agreed to at least halve world carbon emissions by 2050 in a deal which was criticised by some as inadequate.

The Rudd Government has plans to set up a carbon trading scheme by 2010, which has been lambasted by the Opposition as economic recklessness.

Earlier this week International Longwall News reported carbon dioxide had been captured from Victoria’s Loy Yang coal power station through post-combustion capture.