Advanced Energy for Life, a movement which seeks to “elevate discussions” around the use of today’s advanced coal technologies to eliminate poverty, increase access to low-cost electricity and improve emissions, said this week that today’s high efficiency coal technology reduces CO2 emission rates by as much as 25%.

The World Coal Association’s policy director Milagros Miranda said that in all the CCS events at COP21, participants were reminded of the importance of the technology if the world wants to achieve the common international objective of limiting temperature rise below 2C.

“Indeed, we know that without deploying CCS, mitigation strategies for substantial emission reductions will not be successful,” Miranda said.

“This is a fact and does not hold true only in the case of coal. CCS is required and important for all fossil fuels, including gas and oil.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fifth report and the International Energy Agency’s 2015 World Energy Outlook Special Report: Energy and Climate Change also highlighted the importance of CCS in order to meet the 2C target.

The problem, Miranda said, was that despite the recognition of CCS as a key tool for mitigation purposes, the world is yet to see an adequate deployment of the technology.

It was pointed out during the COP21 “side sessions” that policy parity with other clean energy technologies and an enabling policy framework would be crucial for CCS deployment at a scale that allows for its commercialisation and further industrial use.

“CCS is not only valuable and important concerning electricity generation but it is becoming perhaps more important in its industrial utilisation, for example in the cement, steel and chemical industries,” Miranda said.

However, as CCS is capital intensive, Miranda said it was critical to leverage the level of investment to increase the number of large-scale projects that lead to cost reductions and we get more experience with the technology.

“For this purpose, public and private sources are required, international and domestic,” Miranda said.

“It will also be important to further support innovation, capacity building, research and development and storage mapping, amongst other areas.”

All those challenges were emphasised by the recent WCA report Carbon Capture and Storage – the vital role of CCS in an effective COP21 agreement, as well as by the ENGO Network on CCS report, Closing the gap on finance: Why CCS is a vital part of the solution.

The reports note the importance of “policy parity”, government support to move from demonstration towards commercialisation and CCS as an equal part of climate change solutions, alongside energy efficiency and renewable energy.

“Let’s not forget either that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – the key piece in the UN Finance for Development framework – highlighted the importance of public and private investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technologies, including carbon capture and storage,” Miranda said.

HELE (high efficiency low emissions) technologies also play an important role, as they significantly reduce carbon and other emissions such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter.

Moreover, HELE technologies constitute a useful first step for CCS deployment and a pathway to near-zero emissions from coal, Miranda said.

“It is disappointing that only a few INDCs [Intended Nationally Determined Contributions] have included CCS in their mitigation strategies, but that probably reflects that CCS is not expected to be applied at scale until after the period for the current INDCs,” Miranda said.

“It is time for the global deployment of CCS and time to see its commercialisation for power generation and industrial application.

Good examples to learn from already exist in the Boundary Dam project in Canada.

“We hope that COP21, as a turning point for climate action, will go beyond recognising the importance of CCS and, in alignment with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, help to set the path for further investment and deployment in HELE technologies and CCS at a global level,” Miranda said.