COP18 (03/12/12) – Brad Page, CEO of the Global CCS Institute talks about the growing number of Carbon Capture and Storage plants being seen around the word. He says there are currently eight large scale operations around the world, storing 23 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

He says the technology is far from experimental and that he expects to see another eight operations up and running by 2015. Storing 35 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2015, these plants will do more for carbon abatement than all of Australia’s mitigation measures to date.

He says that while the price of CCS remains high, as more demonstration plants are built the costs will come down over time.

He stresses that CCS is not be an excuse to burn more fossil fuels but will be an essential technology to deal with the reality that fossil fuels will continue to play a part in the global energy mix for some time. He says that we need every technology we can get to beat climate change including renewables, CCS and nuclear.