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Global climate change is the greatest environmental challenge we face. We have at most a few decades to make the necessary investments to prevent the most serious impacts of climate change. Future generations will judge us based on the investments we are considering now. In its February 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that global emissions must peak no later than 2015 if we are to hold average global temperature increases to 2.4°C (4.3°F) or less. Moving to an emissions pathway that will hold temperature increases to a minimum will require a colossal effort. There is no time to lose given the long lag in research and development cycles, and energy-intensive infrastructure and product turnover.
Fundamentally, altering the world's energy system is unlikely to occur within this timeframe. It is thus imperative to find means to reduce the footprint of the existing system - most particularly, of coal, which is the most greenhouse gas intensive of the fossil fuels driving climate change. It is in this context that Carbon Dioxide Capture and Sequestration (CCS) becomes one of the most critical technologies in the menu of choices. It is the only option that provides a potentially near-term solution to rapidly expanding coal use here, in China and around the world. CCS must play the critical role of curbing growth in emissions from coal until other alternatives are ready.
