"The carbon cuts we have made so far... have been achieved by means of a
simple device: allowing other countries, principally China, to run
polluting industries on our behalf."
Plans to build a new coal-fired power station in Kent have been put on hold for three years by energy company E.on.
Oxfam, who formed part of a wide coalition opposed to the development of the site, claim that the new power station at Kingsnorth would have emitted six million tonnes of CO2 per year - the equivalent of the combined emissions of 25 developing countries - and would have contributed to global warming. Climate change disproportionately affects the poorest members of the world's poorest countries.
85, 000 messages opposing the Kingsnorth initiative were sent by those concerned about the plans.
OK. So it looks like it will be possible to store CO2 in the porous rock under the North Sea, potentially opening the way for the large-scale application of Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS).
I'm no scientist but I need to ask the question: after the "hundreds of years" that the gas can be safely stored, what happens then?
Is this just another nuclear waste story - store it somewhere until we think of what to do with it in the long term?
