Exeter conference discusses carbon sequestration

As the Exeter climate change conference prepares to discuss the potential of capturing and dumping carbon (sequestration), Greenpeace expressed concern at reports that the government might throw money behind a plan to dump carbon dioxide under the oceans. Sir David King also suggested sequestration could be funded by the increased amount of oil that could be extracted from wells that have had captured liquid CO2 forced into them.

Greenpeace Chief Scientist Dr Doug Parr said:

"It is absurd to suggest we can defeat climate change by a method designed to extract more oil from the ground. In reality there is no holy grail waiting in the wings to solve the problem of climate change. The promise of some future technology should not be allowed to divert vital resources from urgent action to tackle the problem now. Proven, environmentally sound solutions already exist in the form of clean, renewable energy and improved energy efficiency, and these are the areas that should benefit from government tax breaks together with taxes on fossil fuel use."

Some scientists believe that carbon could be captured from power plants and other facilities and stored rather than being emitted into the atmosphere. Greenpeace believes efforts should be concentrated on climate change solutions that are known to work. It is far from clear whether large-scale sequestration would be safe, or even possible.

Greenpeace agrees with Sir David King's statement at the Greenpeace Business Lecture last year that carbon sequestration could at best be a part of the solution and not make an impact on emissions for several decades.

Dr Parr is available for comment. Contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255 / 07801 212967