Facing China's Coal Future - IEA

© OECD/IEA 2012 Facing China’s Coal Future
Prospects and Challenges for Carbon Capture and Storage
Additionally, the limited number of projects in operation today reflects a very challenging
environment for CCS, with global financial uncertainty affecting investment by both private and
public sectors.
Role of CCS in China’s GHG mitigation effort
As indicated in the discussion of China’s energy and CO 2 emission trends in the previous section
of this report, fossil fuel use is likely to continue, with a related increase in CO 2 emissions. CCS
technologies may therefore be an important option in China’s energy future. However, it must be
noted that there is currently no official quantification of the role of CCS in China. External
organisations have done calculations within energy scenario work, but these can only be taken as
illustrative of developments in a possible best‐case scenario for tackling climate change.
China’s Low‐Carbon Development Pathway by 2050: Scenario Analysis of Energy Demand and
Carbon Emissions, completed in 2009 by the Energy Research Institute (ERI) of the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), found that, without enhanced policies on energy
conservation and emissions reduction, energy demand would increase from 1.57 billion tonnes of
oil equivalent (btoe) in 2005 to 4.69 btoe in 2050 and that GHG emissions would reach
12.2 GtCO 2 (ERI‐NDRC, 2009). This large energy demand and increasing CO 2 emissions pose
severe challenges to China’s sustainable development, environmental protection and energy
security and have a major impact on the global energy market and global climate policies. Given
this high consumption of fossil fuels, CCS will be an important component of China’s GHG
mitigation strategy. However, it will be necessary to address many economic and site‐specific
cost considerations, as well as technical and policy issues (including appropriate incentives,
clearer estimation of storage capacity and issues regarding safety and permanence).
As the world’s largest consumer of fossil fuels and producer of CO 2 emissions, China presents a
critical yet challenging market for large‐scale deployment of CCS. In the face of competing
economic, development, energy security and low‐carbon energy priorities, China has shown
cautious, but increasing interest in CCS. CCS is compatible with an existing and developing fossilfuel
infrastructure. With its distinct comparative advantages and unique opportunities to host
large‐scale demonstrations, China has the potential to become a leading global provider of CCS
technologies and engineering services.
Senior Chinese leaders have highlighted the importance of looking more closely at CCS as a
technology with potential for large‐scale deployment in China, and there is significant activity in
both government and industry R&D programmes to explore options for CCS. China’s current
RD&D efforts emphasise various carbon capture technologies, with an increasing focus on
utilisation opportunities. China’s early commercial demonstration projects, GreenGen and the
Shenhua Direct Coal Liquefaction CCS Project, feature important technologies (coal gasification
and coal liquefaction) with key learning on concentrated CO 2 streams for hydrogen production,
EOR and storage that will likely have strategic implications for China’s long‐term energy supply
and strategy.
In 2005, China integrated CCS into its national medium‐ to long‐term science and technology
development plan, as a cutting‐edge technology to achieve fossil‐energy development of nearzero
emissions. In 2006, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) launched China’s
National Basic Research Programme (973 Programme) for the utilisation of greenhouse gasses as
a resource in enhanced oil recovery and underground storage. In 2007, CCS was mentioned by
NDRC as a key research area for GHG emissions reduction in the National Climate Change
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