China has moved further towards cleaning up its emissions from coal power with the launch of a study to look at the feasibility of building coal-fired power plants fitted with CO2 capture and storage (CCS), the British Geological Survey said.
The Near Zero Emissions Coal Phase 1 study hopes to realise a large-scale demonstration project in China, as agreed at the EU-China Summit in September 2005.

"CCS offers the opportunity to reduce emissions per unit of electricity by 85 - 90%," said Nick Riley, head of science for energy at BGS. "Large-scale deployment of CCS in China has potential to significantly reduce future greenhouse gas emissions."

China's CO2 emissions from using coal are set to double by 2030.