Lord Turner's Committee on Climate Change today recommended that new coal plants are not built in the UK unless they can capture all of their emissions by the early 2020s. If accepted by the Government, the proposal would kill controversial plans by German energy giant Eon to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. 

John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace - which has led the campaign against Kingsnorth - said today: 

"Assuming the Government accepts the advice of its own climate change committee, Kingsnorth is dead in the water. Eon's investors and the company's executives will read the Turner report with sweaty palms, as their coal plans don't even come close to satisfying the new standards the committee is demanding." 

He added: "It is incredibly significant that Turner says we can't deliver a low-carbon energy system by relying on the European emissions trading scheme alone. For too long ministers have treated the ETS like a magic box - you put a polluting industry in there and it disappears. Now the climate change committee is saying we need extra regulation to combat unacceptably high emissions from coal." 

He continued: "The quickest, cheapest and fastest way to slash emissions and meet the country's energy demands is to invest in efficiency, renewable energy and super-efficient combined-heat-and-power plants on the Scandinavian model. The Government should adopt Turner's suggestion of tough emissions standards for power stations that would ensure only cleaner technologies are used to power Britain, while ruling out the dirtiest fuels like unabated coal." 

In a key recommendation Turner proposes closing coal plants that don't capture and bury their emissions by the early 2020s at the latest. 

The proposal for a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth does not include plans for any carbon capture. Therefore, the Kingsnorth plans would fall foul of Turner's recommendations that coal plants must be fully CCS (carbon capture and storage) by the early 2020s at the latest. 

However, Eon has submitted an application to the government's CCS competition (by which government funds are made available for a demonstration plant). But even if Kingsnorth won the competition, Eon would be required to capture just 30 megawatts of emissions at the new 1600mw plant by 2014 at the earliest. After that the proposal is to scale up carbon capture at Kingsnorth to 300mw by 2020 (in other words, just 20 per cent abatement). There is no plan - or current technological pathway - for Eon to scale up that 20 per cent by a factor of 5 in just five years (the only way it could meet Turner's new standard). 

Powerpoint presentations by senior Eon executives, acquired by Greenpeace, show the company describes CCS for coal as a ‘developing technology' with ‘technical risk'. The presentations also show that by the early 2020s Eon's proposed Kingsnorth plant would only capture a small percentage of its emissions - while Turner is demanding full CCS. 

Assuming the government accepts Turner's advice, it is very unlikely that Eon and other utilities would submit new plans to build conventional coal plants - because there are huge uncertainties around the technological feasibility and commercial viability of CCS. It is highly unlikely, therefore, that investors will take the risk of investing in a new coal plant in the UK based on the huge uncertainties that CCS would be available on Turner's timescale. Adding to investor uncertainty, Turner also proposes additional measures including an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) for power stations. 

Until government crystallises its coal policy - based on Turner - no utility will risk billions building new plants. For example, an EPS of 350g of CO2 per kilowatt hour of electricity generated (the joint NGO proposal) would rule out every coal plant currently proposed. 

There are now eight proposed new coal plants across the UK. Kingsnorth is the most advanced proposal, followed by Tilbury and Longannet. 

ENDS 

Greenpeace press office - 0207 865 8255 

Note - Eon powerpoint presentations on Kingsnorth and CCS on request.

A call by David Cameron's favourite think tank for a radical new approach to UK energy policy was today echoed by the UK's biggest green groups. Policy Exchange is calling for the kind of greenhouse gas efficiency standard that is applied to cars to now be applied to power stations. The call comes on the same day that Greenpeace, WWF, Friends of the Earth and the RSPB released a joint recommendation for the introduction of a tough new performance standard of 350g of CO2 per kilowatt hour for power plants.

If adopted, the standard would make it very difficult for a government to allow the building of a series of new coal-fired power stations, which are backed by Labour.

The debate around new coal is at a key juncture as John Hutton considers proposals from German energy giant E.ON to build the first new unabated coal-fired power station in Britain for three decades at Kingsnorth in Kent. A standard like the one proposed today would deter decisions that ‘lock in' high carbon projects like new coal plants such as Kingsnorth, which if approved could pollute at high levels for up to fifty years, and undermine Britain's international credibility on climate change.

Robin Oakley, head of the climate campaign for Greenpeace UK, said: "John Hutton could send a signal that the UK is committed to tackling climate change by adopting this idea of a greenhouse gas standard that rules out the most climate wrecking power plants. Standards like this already exist in California ensuring that coal plants like Kingsnorth cannot be built. This standard would focus investment on implementing the real solutions to climate change and energy security - energy efficiency and renewable energy. Britain should follow California's lead."

He added: "A consensus is emerging that the emissions trading scheme alone will not bring about the transition to a low-carbon energy system that is needed. Additional measures like setting a greenhouse gas standard should help put Britain on the right path."

Keith Allott, Head of Climate Change at WWF-UK said: "Carbon capture and storage might well have some role in meeting deep emission reduction targets. But building new coal stations now without even the flimsiest of guarantees that full-scale CCS would ever be fitted is a reckless gamble that neither the climate nor the taxpayer can afford. An emissions performance standard would head off this risk, reinforce the EU emissions trading scheme and help put the UK on the path to a truly sustainable energy system."

Ruth Davis, Head of the climate campaign for the RSPB, said: "Dangerous climate change spells disaster for the world's ecosystems and the millions of people who depend upon them. To play out part in tackling the problem will require a revolution in our energy system. Setting a greenhouse gas standard that rules out the dirtiest forms of power generation is the first step towards that revolution -and an essential one if the UK wishes to safeguard its wildlife, and build a strong, green economy for the future."

Robin Webster, head of the climate campaign for FoE, said: "It's vital that the industrialised world takes the lead in making radical cuts in climate changing emissions. Now is the time to make it happen - through energy efficiency, greener transport and a massive expansion of renewable power. Building coal plants without a greenhouse gas standard would lock us into our addiction to fossil fuels and the environmental devastation it would cause."

ENDS

Greenpeace press office - 07801 212967