Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

The United Nations recently released the “zero draft” of the outcome document for the Rio+20 Earth Summit scheduled for June. There is some important material in the draft, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. In the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All the zero draft does include reference to a goal of universal access to modern energy. It also proposes doubling energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy in the mix.

But the draft does have some problems.

The first problem relates to the goal for universal access to modern energy. An important goal, but the wording lacks ambition. It refers to providing “a basic minimum level of modern energy services for both consumption and production uses by 2030”. If that basic level equates to what the IEA proposes in its Energy Access for All scenario then that means “use of a floor fan, a mobile phone, and two compact fluorescent light bulbs for about five hours a day. In urban areas, consumption might also include an efficient refrigerator, a second mobile phone per household and another appliance, such as a small television or a computer.” Critically, the definition also states “some other categories are excluded, such as electricity access to business.” (See the World Energy Outlook 2011).

Access to energy is essential to addressing the problems that cause poverty. After food and shelter, energy is one of the fundamentals of modern society. Without energy, people cannot access the opportunities provided by the modern world. The world needs to be much more ambitious about the level of energy it wants to see made available to those who currently struggle with little or no electricity access.

To meet that ambition we need to be much more realistic. And there comes the second problem with the zero-draft. Rather than focusing on all low carbon energy sources the draft idealistically promotes doubling the share of renewable energy in the mix. Renewable electricity is important in meeting the world’s energy needs but it can’t do the job on its own. To ensure that both energy access and environmental goals are met, all sources of low carbon energy will be needed – which means using fossil fuels, and particularly coal, with advanced generation and carbon capture and storage technologies. According to the IEA more than half of on-grid electricity additions needed to meet their Energy Access for All scenario will come from coal. (Again see the World Energy Outlook 2011).

That means when the world convenes for the Rio+20 conference in June it must look to all sources of low carbon energy to meet more ambitious energy access targets. Otherwise we risk leaving behind the 1.3 billion people who struggle without electricity out of the clean energy revolution.

Aleksandra Tomczak, European Specialist

Last week I visited the UK’s largest coal power plant in Drax, Yorkshire. It generates 8.5% of the UK’s electricity demand and is also one of the largest plants in Europe. At the same time, Drax managed to reduce its CO₂ footprint by over 15% during the last 10 years thanks to plant efficiency improvements and co-firing biomass.

The efficiency of the plant has been improved by replacing all of the old turbines with new ones, using better materials and with a more optimised design.  With these changes the plant is now 40% efficient, up from 36%, which means that GHG emissions from the plant went down by 8% to 12%.

In the early 2000s the management of Drax also decided to co-fire biomass with coal. Today 10% of the fuel burnt in Drax for electricity generation is renewable biomass. As a result the plant’s carbon footprint from fossil fuels was reduced proportionally, by 10%.

Drax has also recently applied for EU funding under the NER300 scheme to build a carbon capture plant and it is planned that CO₂ captured from Drax will be stored offshore in depleted gas reservoirs in the North Sea. If CCS is successfully applied to the plant its CO₂ emissions will be reduced by 90%, making it a low-carbon source of electricity.

Around 1000 TWh of electricity have been generated from coal in Europe annually since 1990 – showing that even in the EU, coal continues to play  an important role in electricity generation. At the same time, CO₂ emissions from coal can be reduced and Drax is leading the way forward.

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

The Durban climate talks closed two days late in the early hours of Sunday morning to great acclaim on the adoption of the Durban Platform. The agreements reached in Durban foresee a second commitment under the Kyoto Protocol and a negotiating framework to achieve a new legal consensus on climate action by 2015, which would be implemented by 2020.

The coming weeks will no doubt see extensive analysis and debate over the outcomes from COP17. 2012 will see discussion commence under the auspices of the Durban Platform where no doubt the last minute compromises made to get the agreement through in the early hours of Sunday morning will complicate negotiations in the months ahead.

The real debate will revolve around the legal nature of the final outcome from the Durban Platform process. The definition of “legal force” will cause difficulties into the future, as will the provision that the result of the Durban Platform process will apply to all countries. The Kyoto Protocol applies to all countries, but then differentiates between developed and developing. Indeed while the Durban decision text lacks reference to the concept of “common but differentiated responsibilities” it is highly implausible to assume that developing countries will now see themselves on an equal standing with developed countries in terms of emission reduction responsibilities. The right of developing countries to grow their economies will still (as it should) be considered paramount and there will no doubt be continued expectation that the historic responsibility for climate change sits with the developed world who will still be expected to contribute the lion’s share of the emission reduction effort.

It seems likely all countries will consider they got what they wanted out of the final decision in Durban, but that does not mean they all agreed. 2012 will see the formalisation of the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol and it will set the ground-work for the agreement due to be reached in 2015. However many of the issues that have been under negotiation for the past few years remain on the table and these will need to be resolved for agreement to be reached in 2015, especially if that agreement is to be a more formal treaty rather than simply a set of legal decisions.

While there is a lot of triumphalism in the immediate aftermath of the conference, only time will tell whether the agreement reached can result in a treaty being agreed.

One a positive note, the decision to establish the framework for the Green Climate Fund is a huge positive, as is the specific reference to carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the governing instrument as having an identified role in the fund. Another plus for CCS from the conference was its inclusion in the Clean Development Mechanism, which was covered in a previous blog. Inclusion of CCS in the CDM and the Green Climate Fund will provide strong support for deploying this essential mitigation technology in the developing world.

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Earlier today in a landmark decision the CMP decided to include carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This decision comes after five years of campaigning by the WCA and other organisations when some had said it was a dead issue. There has been extensive debate at UN negotiations in recent years and a year of tough negotiations in 2011 following the preliminary decision at COP16/CMP6 in Cancun last year.

The decision comes on a day when negotiators are still struggling late on the final day of the COP to find solutions on other issues, including the future of the Kyoto Protocol. The uncertain future of the protocol also leaves some doubt over the future of the CDM although most observers and legal experts believe the CDM will continue regardless of whether there are further commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

Regardless of that, inclusion of CCS in the CDM this reflects final international acceptance that CCS is as legitimate a low carbon technology as wind and solar. It support use of the technology in developing countries, bringing clean, reliable, base load electricity to the developing world which struggles with 1.3 billion people lacking access to electricity.

The decision also provides a set of internationally accepted rules for CCS projects, dealing with key issues such as site selection, liability and environmental assurance. It also sets an important precedent for the inclusion of CCS into other financing and technology support mechanisms.

Aleksandra Tomczak, European Specialist

As we approach the last hours of this year’s climate change negotiations, informal bilateral and multilateral meetings multiply until early morning hours.

At the same time many interesting side events are taking place and provide a good forum for the WCA to engage with the UN, the World Bank and businesses on issues such as energy access and the expected role of coal, along with other fuels and technologies, in providing alleviating energy poverty.

Yesterday, the UN Foundation organised a session on “Cleaner and more affordable energy access”. It brought together representatives from the Norwegian Government and the Global Network for Energy and Sustainable Development, as well as academics from universities in Zambia and Ghana. During question time WCA presented the IEA’s statistics on the expected role of coal in delivering electricity access in energy poor areas. I asked the panellists if their initiatives would support coal projects in developing countries, knowing that their assistance could facilitate cleaner use of coal, in more efficient power plants. Most panellists seemed not to know that coal was expected to play any role in the electrification challenge and most had nothing to say about the use of coal for electricity access. The Norwegian representative of the Energy-Plus initiative said that financing coal projects was controversial and for this reason his fund would say no to any coal projects. He also questioned the credentials of the Medupi power plant on the grounds that international donors were not happy with controversial projects.

A similar event was organised earlier by the International Chamber of Commerce and the Global Electricity Initiative. Representatives from Schneider Electric and the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership shared their experience and recommendations on the role of renewables in the energy access challenge. Vincent Mazauric from Schneider Electric also pointed out that there is a problem of low reliability when renewables account for a significant share of the grid, especially in isolated areas. This event had a much more balanced panel of experts and also included representatives from ESKOM. In fact the utility’s representative, Erica Johnson, showed that the company’s electrification programme in South Africa focused on building two coal and one hydro power plants. With this programme ESKOM has managed to achieve the rate of one additional grid connection every 30 seconds!

Having side events on energy access is a useful way of reminding delegates and observers at COP17 that as we address the climate change challenge we have to remember that 1.3 billion people still have no access to electricity. For the WCA these events are an opportunity to remind the international community working on energy access issues that coal is part of the solution and to encourage them to be pragmatic and consider sustainable use of coal in energy poor areas as part of their funding strategies. Hopefully, WCA statements will encourage some experts to look at their statistics again and make sure they can help cleaner use of coal in energy poor areas through their energy access funding strategies.

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Well here we are two weeks on; it’s the final day of negotiations at COP17 in Durban. It’s been a busy two weeks with delegates trying to bring together different streams of negotiations into a final outcome. There have been some late nights for delegates as they try to reach compromises on a range of draft decision texts and provide options for Ministers. Meanwhile, Ministers have been locked away in meetings trying to reach political consensus on issues that negotiators have struggled to resolve. Time is quickly running out for an outcome to be agreed – so much so that the South African Presidency is rumoured to be suggesting extending the COP by hours or even days, unlikely though this is.

Where do we hope to see progress though? Before it began, this COP was sold as the one that would be about the developing world, but in the areas where an outcome could be possible by tonight, there are mixed messages.

Getting financing and technology for mitigation and adaption to developing countries is key to ensuring a positive outcome from this COP. Media reports indicate an agreement could be reached later today on the architecture for the Green Climate Fund, which will facilitate billions of dollars in climate finance to developing countries but talk on the ground doesn’t seem quite so enthusiastic. If an agreement can be reached it will be good news because agreeing the mechanics of the fund are essential – although at this stage it looks unlikely that there will be any agreement on exactly where the money will come from. The Copenhagen Accord called for $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020 and pledges are running well short of that target in a tumultuous global economic environment. Meanwhile there seems to have been good progress in negotiations on the technology mechanism which will help transfer low-carbon technologies to developing countries, but some key issues remain unresolved.

On the major issue we have been following, including of CCS in the CDM, it looks like there will be a positive outcome. Later today the CMP is expected to sign off on a decision to adopt the modalities and procedures (rules) that will allow carbon capture and storage projects to be included in the Clean Development Mechanism. This will be a major win in supporting the deployment of this essential mitigation technology in the CDM.

Finally, everyone at the conference is looking towards the future and the prospect of some kind of road map to agree a comprehensive climate agreement being agreed in the years to come. The role of the Kyoto Protocol and any second commitment period is also tied up in this discussion. A number of countries previously seen to be blocking the road map idea such as the United States and China have made positive noises in the past day or so. There has been talk of some kind of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, though exactly what that might look like is unclear. With many parties setting a range of conflicting pre-conditions for agreement on these issues to be reached it will be a challenge to bring that all together in the remaining hours.

I expect negotiators will be burning the midnight oil tonight to try and bring all this together. It’s going to be a challenge, but a positive outcome could be within reach.

Milton Catelin, Chief Executive, WCA

Voltaire once said “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. I can’t help but think that if he attended the annual COP/CMP climate negotiations he would tell us that any action aimed at addressing the climate challenge is better than waiting around for the perfect solution. This COP has been held in a country that struggles with poverty, can only provide electricity to three-quarters of its population and so must integrate its sustainable development priorities with action of climate change.

These challenges exist in developing countries the world over and they have been highlighted time and again at this conference. But as delegates strive to find the ultimate solution to climate change, they seem to forget that positive action can be taken now on both climate and development.

As an example, in the midst of these meetings, I met with a delegate from Sri Lanka, a country where only 76% of the population have access to electricity. They have long exceeded their capacity to generate electricity from their hydro resources and for the past 20 years have been one of a handful of countries to use expensive oil resources for electricity generation – but they are now looking to coal to secure their energy future. They’ve done that because coal is an affordable, accessible and reliable source of electricity.

At a conference such as this one many other delegates will criticise such a decision, but Sri Lanka can combine action on its climate and development objectives. Deployment of modern high efficiency, low emission coal-fired power generation technology will help significantly reduce the emissions profile of Sri Lanka’s electricity supply while helping their economy grow. Climate financing, such as through the Clean Development Mechanism, can support them in achieving these goals.

While we’re focussed on the longer term in these negotiations, this is a reminder that action such as this can balance energy security, poverty eradication and environmental considerations now. Many delegates here might want to live in a world without coal but they ignore the fact that coal is the backbone of modern electricity and will be for decades to come.

Benjamin Sporton, WCA Policy Director

Last night WCA hosted its official side event at the COP17 negotiations. On the panel were Nelisiwe Magubane, Director-General of the South African Energy Department who was representing Minister Dupio Peters; Jennifer Morgan, Director of the World Resource Institute’s Climate and Energy Program; and Norman Mbazima, Chief Executive of Thermal Coal at Anglo American. Norman is also Chair of the WCA’s Energy Poverty and Sustainable Development Committee. WCA Chief Executive Milton Catelin chaired the panel and contributed to the debate.

There were around 50 people in the audience, not a bad attendance for a side event starting at 8.15pm especially with the UNFCCC decision not to provide catering at this COP! Also in the audience was a contingent from the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign team in their bright yellow t-shirts.

With the event being themed as “the role of coal in the context of action on climate change and sustainable development” it was of course going to be an interesting debate. Each of the speakers took a different perspective. Norman Mbazima highlighted the world’s growing coal demand and the significant role clean coal technologies can play in addressing the world’s energy and climate challenges. Jennifer Morgan took a different view, arguing that without the deployment of CCS technology there is no future for coal, especially given the growth in renewables. Nelisiwe Magubane highlighted the important role coal continues to play in the South African economy but also addressed the need to reduce emissions through clean coal technologies and deployment of renewable energy.

Perhaps not surprisingly many in the audience didn’t see a future for coal in a carbon constrained world. There were questions about the environmental impact of coal mining, can coal really be clean, is CCS a pipe dream, shouldn’t we be investing more in renewables.

Jennifer Morgan argued that significant investment was needed to turn CCS into a reality, saying that coal can only be clean if 100% of CO₂ emissions are captured. Milton Catelin highlighted that efficiency plays a key role in greenhouse gas mitigation highlighting that replacing or upgrading old, inefficient plants globally could reduce CO₂ emissions by more than the intended effect of the Kyoto Protocol. Nelisiwe Magubane said coal still has a significant role to play in South Africa but that governments would be working with industry to reduce coal’s emissions profile. She also said renewables would have a significant role to play and would likely take up some of coal’s share of electricity generation in the future.

Importantly however Magubane noted that renewables needed support from base load power generation from sources like coal. She said off-grid renewable generation was not an ideal solution because it was “not right that rural people should get inferior intermittent access to electricity.” Interestingly she mentioned that some communities come to resent solar electricity because it’s not reliable.

What became clear in the discussion was that significant investment, by both the private and public sectors is needed to support the deployment of clean energy. It’s clear coal, along with CCS, along with renewables will all play a role.

Finally, one participant kindly bemoaned the UNFCCC for scheduling the event so late in the evening. He said “this is one of the most important sessions I’ve been in” because it got down to the reality of dealing with climate change in the context of the energy challenges that face the world.

In that sense I suppose the climate negotiations at these COPs are really a proxy debate for transforming energy policy. I think this side event told the story about how coal can be part of the climate solution, hopefully we made some of the “Beyond Coal” team think twice about that.