Rudd reveals carbon capture plans

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The Prime Minister has released a paper about Australia’s plans to spend up to $100 million a year to encourage carbon capture and storage. Kevin Rudd says the technology is vital if the world is to make deep cuts to greenhouse gas levels.

The paper says Australia will lead the way in developing carbon capture and storage technology over the next decades for commercial use.

Australia will be the headquarters for a new global carbon capture and storage institute and a two-day meeting starts in London today to discuss how it will work.

Mr Rudd says Australia needs to take a leading role because it is the world’s largest coal exporter and the institute will work towards getting the G8’s goal of 20 projects up and running.

The paper also says the institute would collaborate with other countries such as the United States, the UK, Canada, Japan, Brazil and Norway to make use of work already underway.

But the Greens Senator Christine Milne says it is taking the wrong approach to the next global meeting on climate change in Poland.

“I think the Rudd Government has been totally captured and stored by the coal industry in its first year, just as Barack Obama is coming with the green energy revolution - the green new deal, millions of jobs investment in solar and wind,” she said.

“The Rudd Government’s about to head to Posnan with a coal agenda.”