Britain Advances Carbon-Capture Plans

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Steps to capture and bury greenhouse gas emissions -– rather than release them into the atmosphere -– appear to have taken an important step forward this week in Britain, where the government proposed making the construction of large new power plants contingent on fitting the technology.

The government also proposed creating clusters of utilities to facilitate the transport and collection of carbon dioxide for storage in depleted oil and gas fields in the North Sea as part of a process known as “carbon capture and sequestration,” or C.C.S.

One sign that the measures may make a difference to climate protection was the reaction from the British branch of Greenpeace, the environmental group.

In the past, some Greenpeace members in Europe have sharply criticized C.C.S., saying that lobbying by energy companies in favor of a technology -– as yet unproven on a commercial scale -– was mainly meant to help them to stay in business even as governments introduce ever stricter carbon controls.

But Greenpeace U.K. wrote on its Web site this week that the announcement showed “admirable signs of climate leadership.”

The British group also called the announcement, by Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, “a key departure from previous policy.” It welcomed recommendations “that from now on power companies planning to build new coal plants will be required to fit full C.C.S. by 2025 at the latest, provided that the Environment Agency is convinced that the technology works.”

Mr. Miliband told members of Parliament on Thursday that the policy should allow Britain to lead the world in the technology while keeping coal as part of the nation’s energy mix without compromising its climate change commitments.