CORRECTION: Highly efficient coal-fired power plants will earn carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol, following amendments to the treaty’s main carbon trading scheme. [NOTE: UN approval and associated comments by Jose Miguez do not apply to carbon capture and storage technology as previously reported by Carbon Positive in this story]
UNFCCC official Jose Miguez said in mid-September that approval has been given for highly-efficient, or "supercritical", coal power plants in the developing world to claim CER credits under Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Reuters reports. Such plants emit much lower amounts of carbon dioxide per unit of power produced than conventional coal-fired plants.
Miguez, an alternate member on the CDM Executive Board, said projects would only be eligible in developing countries where at least half the nation’s electricity is generated from burning coal. Emissions of CO2 from the power sector are among the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, from the burning of fossils fuels, particularly coal.
Carbon market analysts ICECAP said the inclusion of cleaner coal technology under the CDM would potentially expand the supply of CERs by 2 or 3 per cent up to 2012.
Reuters 17&19/9/07
Related stories:
CER market report