The European Parliament today adopted the Davies report on the capture and storage of CO2. Reacting to the vote, GUE/NGL MEP Sabine Wils said the vote sends a negative signal on the urgent need for ecological energy conversion.

“The text adopted today in Parliament on carbon capture and storage does not bode well for a socio-ecological energy policy in the EU. The report states that if CO2 emissions are to be reduced by 2050, the use of CCS technology is indispensable. However, CCS stands in the way of a much-needed energy revolution. The high level of electricity generation from coal for example, could persist under a CCS policy regime. Coal companies can thus look forward to further profits from their power plants, while the public bears the incalculable environmental damage” she said.

Wils also criticised the cost of CCS technology and proposals for the public to foot the bill for both investment and potential environmental damage, while profits are to be privatized. Regarding the responsibility of CCS for the alleged decrease in industrial emissions, Sabine Wils said that “for the left, the use of CCS to tackle industrial emissions, for example from the chemical or steel industry, is simply wrong. It would make more sense to first create incentives to tap the potential of energy efficiency in energy-intensive industrial processes, secondly, to carry out more public research and invest in the development of energy efficiency technologies, and thirdly, to get serious about renewables.”

“This report's attempts to portray CCS as low-risk and climate-friendly constitutes a perversion of responsible climate policy.  The danger posed by CCS reservoirs for the environment and people and the risks of leaking carbon storage is ignored by this report. The risks to the world's most important commodity – drinking water – are also buried. Sustainable climate policy requires that greenhouse gases either do not arise in energy production and industry or are drastically reduced!” she concluded.

GUE/NGL Press:
David Lundy +32 470 85 05 09
Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20
Emily Macintosh +32 470 85 05 08