Dr Ligia Noronha, Executive Director TERI and member of the EUCERS Advisory Board welcomed participants and pointed out in her introduction, that TERI has focused on clean coal over the past years, since coal plays an important role in serving India’s increased demand for energy resources.

Professor Dr Friedbert Pflüger, who discussed the role of coal in the energy mix, followed Dr Noronha. He stated that coal will remain a strong player, and supported his argument by numbers of the International Energy Agency (IEA) which show that by 2035 coal might even play a stronger role than oil. The climate change challenge and its effects, which were visible again in recent pictures after hurricane Sandy, hit the east coast of the U.S. A recent report by Munich RE has also shown the rising numbers of climate change catastrophes. Thus clean coal technologies have to be developed to make the use of coal sustainable.

John Lyman, Director of the Atlantic Council U.S. stressed the importance of coal for the energy mix in India and worldwide. All available energy resources are needed, according to Lyman, to meet the global demand for energy. If the demand for energy is not met, poverty, hunger and distress will increase and we have to find ways to make all resources work. Thus we need to find ways to make coal cleaner, so we can use coal without triggering more environmental catastrophes.

Tomislav Delinic of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in India gave a few remarks, highlighting the importance of the topic. Jessica Morton explained the main aim of the Global CCS Institute in Australia as to facilitate the development and deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Currently eight large-scale integrated projects on CCS are run worldwide, which store a total of 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. According to Jessica, the difficulties in running these projects are to secure financing of the project, as well as selecting sites, achieve public acceptance and development of climate change legislation. Government policies are essential for enabling CCS projects and climate change legislation must not be delayed.

After the break Dr Malti Goel, Former Adviser and Senior Scientist at the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Indian Government gave us a view from India. Dr Goel explained the importance of coal for India, as 85% of coal produced is used for the power sector and India is highly dependent on coal. The history of clean coal in India goes back to the 70s. In 1973 first investigations and an assessment of importance of clean coal was conducted. 1986 brought research and development in coal beneficiation, gasification and liquefaction. In 1997 policy guidelines came into force, which prevented coal plants to be within 1000km of urban areas or pit head. Today policies are climate change oriented and a national action plan in climate change came into force in 2008. The main issue raised during Dr Goel’s presentation was, if coal will be around long enough to make CCS technology viable.

EUCERS Asscoiate Director Dr Frank Umbach followed Dr Goel. Umbach illustrated the importance of coal for the global energy mix with the help of a few statistics. Coal accounts for 32% of today’s energy mix. Between 2000-2010 coal grew by 48% – no other resource has had a comparable increase. In fact the demand for coal has grown as much as the demand for all other energy sources together. India is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world and the third largest coal producer, after China and the U.S. To realize CCS technologies in India – Umbach urged – change in legislation and energy policy is essential.

Professor DK Sharma of the IITD in Delhi joined us and confirmed that the demand for coal in India will rise – especially in the electricity sector. India holds currently resources of 280bn tonnes of coal. The production will have to be cleaned to make coal usage sustainable, which currently causes high pollution in India.

Agneev Mukherjee of TERI presented a study carried out by TERI on CCS after the lunch break. The report also confirmed the importance of coal for India’s energy sector. Coal production in India is higher than the production of oil or gas – 57% of India’s energy comes from coal. The report addresses legal issues, such as the long-term ownership of carbon dioxide and liability issues of storage. Following issues were addressed: access and property rights, monitoring and verifying storage, ensuring maintenance, post-closure responsibilities, responsibility in the event of leakage of stored CO2 and disposal of stored CO2. TERI’s report also outlined the barriers CCS technology is facing in India. There is a lack of accurate geological storage site data. CCS will also increase electricity costs. The Infrastructure would have to be extended. And legal issues arise related to land acquisition, ground water contamination and CO2 leakage.

Opportunities and Challenges of Implementing Coal Sequestration in India was the title of Vikram Vishal’s presentation, a PhD student at the Department of Civil Engineering at the IIT Bombay/Manash. Vishal presented on the opportunities by injection of CO2, followed by Pamela Tomski of the Atlantic Council U.S. Tomski addressed different US-Indian Initiatives, such as the US India Fossil Energy Cooperation or PACE Programme – a framework within each government (US and India) gives 25 million dollar per year for 5 years to advance US-Indian partnership in the development of clean energy technologies. The PACE programme mainly focuses on renewables but under PACE D fossil fuels is managed with approximately 2 million for the design of modern coal plant development. Tomski concluded with the notion that in the US the focus is no longer on CCS but shifted to CCUS – Carbon Capture Usage and Storage.

The event was concluded by a summary of Professor Pflüger, Amit Kumar of TERI and John Lyman. Lyman concluded the one-day workshop with the words “We have the potential of doing something great – the question is to get political support for clean coal technologies in India and worldwide”.

The first panel made an impact assessment of the relevance of Caspian oil. It was chaired by Patrick Heren, founder of Heren Energy now ICIS and featured presentations of Chris Pincher MP, Chair of Azerbaijan APPG and member of Energy Committee, John T Baldwin, Group Political Adviser, BP plc UK, Angus Miller, Caspian Energy Adviser, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Dr Cenk Pala, former Managing Director E-ON Turkey and former CEO of BOTAS.

The second panel examined whether the BTC experience can be replicated in the Southern Corridor. It was chaired by John Roberts of Platts and included presentations by Fariz Ismailzade, Executive Vice Rector, Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Dr Kirsten Westphal, Senior Associate, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) Berlin, Christian Dolezal, Head of Communication & Public Affairs, NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International GmbH, Michael Hoffmann, Director External Affairs, Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG and Dr Frank Umbach, Associate Director, EUCERS King’s College London.

A discussion followed the presentations. A reception under the auspices of H.E. Ünal Çeviköz, Ambassador of Turkey to the UK concluded the event.

On 4 July, 2012, the sixth roundtable, titled ‘The Future of Clean Coal Technologies and CCS in the EU and USA’, reunited Kai Tullius, Coordinator of CCS Policy, DG Energy at the European Commission, John Lyman, Director of the Energy and Environment Programme at the Atlantic Council of the U.S. and Dr Frank Umbach, Associate Director at EUCERS and author of the EUCERS/CEEP study ‘The Future of Clean Coal’ as keynote speakers.

After the welcome address by Professor Dr Friedbert Pflüger, Director of EUCERS, and Ms Claudia Crawford, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s London office, Mr Tullius talked about the goals of European energy policy to guarantee security of supply, competitiveness and sustainability, as well as the conditions for successful carbon capture and storage (CCS). Afterwards, Mr Lyman offered a US perspective on climate regulations and the differences between US and European policies, followed by Dr Umbach’s talk on the dual challenge of climate change and the growing energy demand, and the role of CCS.

As usual, the roundtable discussion was followed by international expert commentators, including Janusz Luks, CEO at Central Europe Energy Partners; Frank Ennenbach, Director of Technology and Managing Partner at Alstom Carbon Capture GmbH; Pamela Tomski, Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the US; Janusz Reiter, President of the Center of International Relations in Warsaw; Chris Littlecott, Senior Policy Advisor at E3G, University of Edinburgh; Benjamin Sport, Deputy CEO at the World Coal Association; and Bernd Wilmer,

Director of Communication at Vattenfall Europe AG, who spoke about the factors surrounding CCS policies, such as viability, levels of public acceptance, timing, environmental protection and political trust, among other topics. The public likewise engaged in the discussion, making of this workshop yet another interesting and active debate that we will be delighted to follow-up.
 
EUCERS would like to thank the European Commission Representation in the UK and the Konrad Adenuaer Foundation in London for this successful initiative that we look forward to continuing next year. Moreover, we would also like to thank all our
guest speakers and participants throughout these six roundtables for your input and collaboration!

After the welcome address by Prof Pflüger and Claudia Crawford, Mr Vinois gave a presentation on ‘Natural Gas in the EU and the Role of the Southern Gas Corridor’, which highlighted the benefits the EU perceives in the diversification of export routes for gas producers. Later on, Mr Tungland presented TAP’s perspective on the cost-benefit advantages of opening the Southern Corridor and Mr Baldwin offered BP’s perspective on the regional role of the Shah Deniz natural gas field.

The panel presentations were followed by expert comments, including Mathew Hulbert of the Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations; Gulmira Rzayeva, Center for Strategic Studies in Azerbaijan; Heiko Ammerman from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants GmbH; Jonathan Peel, President of the WTO and International Trade Permanent Study of the European Economic & Social Committee; Dorian Ducka, Director of European Integration and International Projects, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy of Albania; and Dr Frank Umbach, Associate Director at EUCERS. These remarks were enriched by the comments and active engagement of the audience during an interesting Q&A session.

We would like to thank the attendees and participants in these interesting discussions and we look forward to more on these and other energy topics at our next roundtables.

The fourth Roundtable, titled ‘Green Energy – Green Business in Europe’, reunited keynote speakers Mechthild Wörsdörfer, Head of Unit for Energy Policy and Monitoring of Electricity, DG Energy, European Commission and Humphrey Douglas, Partner at SNR Denton.

After the welcome address by Professor Dr Friedbert Pflüger, Director of EUCERS, Dominic Brett, Senior Political Officer, EU Commission Representation in the UK and Claudia Crawford, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s London office, Ms Wörsdörfer gave a European perspective on Green Energy in Europe in reference to the 20/20/20 European Union targets. Later on, Mr Douglas offered a British perspective on feed-in tariffs (FITs), the electricity market reform and green employment contracts in the UK to conclude that the engagement of the workforce in relevant for energy efficiency in times of economic downturn.

The roundtable discussion also included the presentation of the paper ‘Green Energy – Green Business: New Financial and Policy Instruments for Sustainable Growth in the EU’ by Arash Duero and Sadu-Daniel Kopp, supported by EUCERS and the Centre for European Studies. The paper analyses the EU’s policy on renewable energy and propose the mobilisation of private investment capital as the means to ensure the sustainable growth of the eco-industry in the European Union.

Caridi gave an overview on the international progress of climate policy, the progress of implementing the UN climate summit agreements, the Kyoto Protocol and Cancun agreements. The main challenge in international climate policy is to find common grounds for climate goals and to address the international CO2 emission levels gap. Oettinger proposes in the Roadmap 2050 a very ambitious objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95% below the levels of 1990. On the other hand emerging markets like China or India have high CO2 emissions and a significant reduction is not feasible, since it would have severe consequences for production and economic growth. The result is an ambition gap, which according to Caridi has to be addressed in the Durban agreement. By 2015 a legally binding agreement applicable to all contracting countries shall be agreed and a right forum identified to address national circumstances. Caridi then focused on the EU’s policy on climate change and suggests that to achieve the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, intermediary milestones need to be fixed (e.g. 2020, 2030, 2040) to make the long-term strategy more predictable review the developments throughout the EU regularly. The energy savings mechanism proposed in the roadmap would reduce overall energy imports above 30%, saving the EU € 400 billion of the oil and gas import bill in 2050 and makes the EU less volatile to energy imports. Caridi summarised that if designed in a smart way, the EU climate change policy cannot only reduce greenhouse gas emissions while growing the economy in a sustainable and resilient manner.

Benny Peiser opened with the notion that climate policy is no longer a big item on the EU’s agenda. Climate mania is gradually coming to an end after almost 20 years. Peiser explained the backseat position of EU climate policy with the example of Poland’s intractable hostility to green unilateralism, which was greeted by universal protestation in capitals around Europe in the past. Today, Peiser claims, it is hardly noticed by the media while green campaigners have become elderly and more pressing concerns are taking precedence and are completely overriding the green agenda. This results in a deadlock in Brussels and throughout the EU for climate and green energy policy. According to Peiser the main issue with the EU’s climate targets is that the policy puts European businesses and, in particular energy- intensive users, at a disadvantage with regards to cost during the economic crisis. Peiser said it might be possible to make a case for de-carbonization, but only if it were undertaken on a worldwide basis. Recent UN climate summits have shown that there is no prospect of committing emerging countries with high emissions to international targets. Given the manifest reluctance of the world’s big emitters to accept any legally binding carbon targets and in face of our deepening economic crisis, according to Peiser, Europe should undertake a comprehensive review of its economically damaging climate and renewables targets and, in the absence of an international agreement, should consider the suspension of all unilateral policies that threaten Europe’s economic recovery.

A vibrant discussion followed the two presentations, with varying arguments whether or not climate policy is still a priority on the EU’s agenda or put on the backseat already. We welcomed EU policy experts as well as energy policy advisers of the financial service sector, academics, the British politics and the energy industry.

Köhler referred to Commissioner Oettinger’s speech and stressed that energy security has been a core policy area of the EU since the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1958. While the objective in 1958 was to provide security and freedom within Europe, in recent years the challenge of energy security has taken on a more global perspective. Ensuring the secure and steady flow of energy at competitive prices is a fundamental necessity for continued economic development.

Dr Louis Skyner, Commercial Manager at Statoil ASA in Russia referred in his statement to discuss the relations with the EU’s most important gas supplier, Russia and illustrates how the EU’s energy policy affects also its external relations with supply countries. Skyner began with setting the scene highlighting the dependency of the Russian economy on oil and gas export-revenues and Russia’s exposure to global energy market developments. Russia is the EU’s main supplier of gas. However, EU-Russia relations are characterized by multiplication of contradictions and misunderstandings.

Iulian Chifu, Associate Professor at the Bucharest National School of Political and Administrative Studies and Advisor to the Romanian President on Security and Foreign Policy introduced the discussion with the approximately 60 participants, including industry experts, academics and diplomacy, with a 5-minute intervention giving us a Romanian perspective on EU external energy relations. Chifu stated that Romania is fully supportive in strengthening the EU external energy policy for the benefit of sustainability, affordability and coherence in energy supply. Chifu stated that Romania could be a strong partner for the EU in the Southern Gas Corridor.

The initial autumn event included guest speaks such as James F. Wood from the U.S. Department of Energy, Milton Catelin the CEO of the World Coal Association, John McElroy of RWE npower, Joan MacNaughton of Alstom, Marcin Bodio of CEEP as well as other specialists from the industry and academia.

The December talk was opened by Tobias Kempermann, head of the EWE representation in Berlin, as well as Friedbert Pflüger, Director EUCERS, Pawel Olechnowicz, Chairman CEEP and John Lyman, director of the Atlantic Council.

We welcomed EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger and the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Economy in Poland, Professor Maciej Kaliski, at the EWE Offices near the Brandeburg Gate in Berlin.

Following the keynote speeches, Frank Umbach presented the EUCERS/CEEP study and Pamela Tomski presented the Atlantic Council Study.
The event concluded with ample discussions and participants.
The superb views of the EWE offices overlooking the Brandenburg Gate and the Quadriga provided the background to a pleasant and fruitful day. The Berlin event was the last in the 2011 EUCERS series.

Professor Dr Friedbert Pflüger, Director EUCERS and Claudia Crawford, Director London Office of the KAS welcomed the participants and introduced the roundtable series.

Dr Stefan Tostmann, Head Financial Resources at the Directorate General for Energy and the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission in Brussels introduced his statement with a quote by Niels Bohr: “Prediction is difficult, especially about the future”. Based on the assumption that we may plan but are not able to predict the outcome, Tostmann gave an overview of the Energy 2020 strategy of the Commission and its targets for renewable energy. The main target set out for renewable energy in the strategy is that 20% of the EU energy mix shall be made up of renewable energy by 2020. The key challenges to achieve this goal are defined by Tostmann as the capacity and flexibility of energy infrastructure, energy storage and demand-side management. 

Following Professor Paul Ekins, Professor of Energy and Environment Policy at the UCL Energy Institute, University College London gave us an insightful overview on the development of renewable energy in the UK. If he had only 5 seconds to talk, on the future of renewables in Britain and in Europe, he would simply say that it depends on policy. This is because energy from renewable resources is more expensive and don’t perform any better - rather worse - than fossil fuels, in every dimension except for environment, said Ekins.

An intervention by Stephen Tindale, Associate Fellow, Centre for European Reform followed the introductory statements. Tindale confirmed that regulatory certainty and stability are not sufficient enough in Europe to guarantee investments in the renewable energy sector. Tindale proposed a shift in EU funding and urged that more EU funds should be spent on energy and less on transport (currently the budget of transport is three times higher than for energy).

Renewable energy is the future of the EU’s energy mix, but is not yet developed enough in capacity, infrastructure and storage to supply Europe with reliable energy. Thus bridge-technologies are important, in particular gas. These have to be imported to the European market and thus relations with external partners are core to the EU energy policy and were discussed in the second Eucers Energy Talk.

The workshop celebrated the launch of a report – “Green, Safe, Cheap: Where next for EU energy policy?” written by EU Commissioners Günther Oettinger and Connie Hedegaard together with ten European experts.

The keynote speech delivered by Charles Hendry MP, Minister of State at the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change was preceded by a welcome address by Professor Friedbert Pflüger, director of EUCERS.

Katinka Barysch, deputy director of CER and editor of the study also addressed the audience ahead of a panel discussion steered by Frank Umbach, associate director of EUCERS, Stephen Tindale, associate fellow at CER and Nick Mabey, chief executive and founder director of E3G – Third Generation Environmentalism.

The study proposes to answer a number of topical questions: “Will Europe have to fight for its energy with emerging power such as China?”, “Should the EU get involved in building cross-border gas and power lines?”, “Do we need a European policy on nuclear policy?”

While all these questions are highly relevant and preoccupy policy-makers in Brussels, they are also complex and cannot disregard the EU’s long-term goals of creating unitary trans-European electricity and gas markets which could offer cheap, competitive, secure and green energy.

In the introductory chapter, Katinka Barysch points out that while European officials like to argue that the EU’s multiple energy policy objectives are compatible; there are arguments which show that the single EU energy market is necessary but not sufficient to meet the Union’s energy policy objectives.

These arguments are highlighted in the report’s 10 chapters where experts ask whether the EU’s renewable policy is not “unnecessarily expensive” and even undermine the single market, whether EU support for selected pipelines and power lines could distort market signals and finally whether the EU’s gas policy focuses too much on the “Russia threat”.

The study points out that the EU is increasingly aware that the market liberalisation project is not sufficient to ensure the security of energy supply and that new rules have to be adopted to force member states to invest in new pipelines and storage facilities.

It also stresses the fact that the EU has little time to sort out complex issues such as the reduction of carbon emissions. Brussels is yet to produce new and ambitious targets beyond 2020 – the date when member states should have reduced emissions by 20% and ensure that 20% of their energy generation comes from green sources.

Finally, the study asks whether the sizeable investments needed to ensure a low-carbon and energy secure economy would not be outweighed by slimmer local initiatives that would take in consideration individual needs.

The authors conclude that Brussels faces the pressing need to formulate a more coherent, long-term European energy strategy.

Dr Ligia Noronha, Executive Director TERI and member of the EUCERS Advisory Board welcomed participants and pointed out in her introduction, that TERI has focused on clean coal over the past years, since coal plays an important role in serving India’s increased demand for energy resources.

Professor Dr Friedbert Pflüger, who discussed the role of coal in the energy mix, followed Dr Noronha. He stated that coal will remain a strong player, and supported his argument by numbers of the International Energy Agency (IEA) which show that by 2035 coal might even play a stronger role than oil. The climate change challenge and its effects, which were visible again in recent pictures after hurricane Sandy, hit the east coast of the U.S. A recent report by Munich RE has also shown the rising numbers of climate change catastrophes. Thus clean coal technologies have to be developed to make the use of coal sustainable.

John Lyman, Director of the Atlantic Council U.S. stressed the importance of coal for the energy mix in India and worldwide. All available energy resources are needed, according to Lyman, to meet the global demand for energy. If the demand for energy is not met, poverty, hunger and distress will increase and we have to find ways to make all resources work. Thus we need to find ways to make coal cleaner, so we can use coal without triggering more environmental catastrophes.

Tomislav Delinic of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in India gave a few remarks, highlighting the importance of the topic. Jessica Morton explained the main aim of the Global CCS Institute in Australia as to facilitate the development and deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Currently eight large-scale integrated projects on CCS are run worldwide, which store a total of 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. According to Jessica, the difficulties in running these projects are to secure financing of the project, as well as selecting sites, achieve public acceptance and development of climate change legislation. Government policies are essential for enabling CCS projects and climate change legislation must not be delayed.

After the break Dr Malti Goel, Former Adviser and Senior Scientist at the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Indian Government gave us a view from India. Dr Goel explained the importance of coal for India, as 85% of coal produced is used for the power sector and India is highly dependent on coal. The history of clean coal in India goes back to the 70s. In 1973 first investigations and an assessment of importance of clean coal was conducted. 1986 brought research and development in coal beneficiation, gasification and liquefaction. In 1997 policy guidelines came into force, which prevented coal plants to be within 1000km of urban areas or pit head. Today policies are climate change oriented and a national action plan in climate change came into force in 2008. The main issue raised during Dr Goel’s presentation was, if coal will be around long enough to make CCS technology viable.

EUCERS Asscoiate Director Dr Frank Umbach followed Dr Goel. Umbach illustrated the importance of coal for the global energy mix with the help of a few statistics. Coal accounts for 32% of today’s energy mix. Between 2000-2010 coal grew by 48% – no other resource has had a comparable increase. In fact the demand for coal has grown as much as the demand for all other energy sources together. India is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world and the third largest coal producer, after China and the U.S. To realize CCS technologies in India – Umbach urged – change in legislation and energy policy is essential.

Professor DK Sharma of the IITD in Delhi joined us and confirmed that the demand for coal in India will rise – especially in the electricity sector. India holds currently resources of 280bn tonnes of coal. The production will have to be cleaned to make coal usage sustainable, which currently causes high pollution in India.

Agneev Mukherjee of TERI presented a study carried out by TERI on CCS after the lunch break. The report also confirmed the importance of coal for India’s energy sector. Coal production in India is higher than the production of oil or gas – 57% of India’s energy comes from coal. The report addresses legal issues, such as the long-term ownership of carbon dioxide and liability issues of storage. Following issues were addressed: access and property rights, monitoring and verifying storage, ensuring maintenance, post-closure responsibilities, responsibility in the event of leakage of stored CO2 and disposal of stored CO2. TERI’s report also outlined the barriers CCS technology is facing in India. There is a lack of accurate geological storage site data. CCS will also increase electricity costs. The Infrastructure would have to be extended. And legal issues arise related to land acquisition, ground water contamination and CO2 leakage.

Opportunities and Challenges of Implementing Coal Sequestration in India was the title of Vikram Vishal’s presentation, a PhD student at the Department of Civil Engineering at the IIT Bombay/Manash. Vishal presented on the opportunities by injection of CO2, followed by Pamela Tomski of the Atlantic Council U.S. Tomski addressed different US-Indian Initiatives, such as the US India Fossil Energy Cooperation or PACE Programme – a framework within each government (US and India) gives 25 million dollar per year for 5 years to advance US-Indian partnership in the development of clean energy technologies. The PACE programme mainly focuses on renewables but under PACE D fossil fuels is managed with approximately 2 million for the design of modern coal plant development. Tomski concluded with the notion that in the US the focus is no longer on CCS but shifted to CCUS – Carbon Capture Usage and Storage.

The event was concluded by a summary of Professor Pflüger, Amit Kumar of TERI and John Lyman. Lyman concluded the one-day workshop with the words “We have the potential of doing something great – the question is to get political support for clean coal technologies in India and worldwide”.

The meeting organised in conjunction with the Atlantic Council, an independent body committed to promoting transatlantic cooperation, included high-profile speakers such as Gery Juleff, Head, Wider Energy Security Team at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and James F. Wood, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coal, at the US Department of Energy. 

Their speeches were preceded by power point presentations from Dr Frank Umbach, Associate Director of EUCERS and Pamela Tomski, managing partner at EnTech Strategies, a Washington-based consultancy specialising among others in the commercial deployment of CCS systems.

US guests shared their experiences in tackling environmental pollution resulting from the use of dirty fossil fuels such as coal. They highlighted a number of programmes, currently on the agenda of the US Department of Energy, designed to capture emissions which can then be reused for industrial purposes.

One example included the HECA project in California which aims to produce hydrogen fuel for a local power plant through the gasification of petroleum coke waste streams from nearby oil refineries.

The plant which benefits from CCS technologies will be used to offset any imbalances on the transmission lines resulting from intermittent generation from wind and solar outfits.

European panellists from the academia, energy companies, lobby groups and consultancies acknowledged the need for CCS and clean coal technologies, but pointed out that as long as the European Union does not adopt a coherent strategy that would entail appropriate funding, member states would not be able to implement such equipment on a large scale.

They argued that of all EU member states only the UK had a coherent climate change strategy, claiming that other countries had rushed to implement clean technologies, often ignoring the potential public backlash.

They also pointed out that the onus was not only on the EU and the US to fight climate change, but on all countries, including energy-hungry China and India.

Members of the international coal lobby also pointed out that coal was and would remain the choice fuel for power generation in the short to medium-term.  Panellists noted that Brussels had taken a rather “short-sighted” view regarding the EU’s reliance on coal, by ordering the closure of mines in Germany, Spain and Romania in recent years, quoting high domestic labour and mining costs.

As coal prices and shipping costs are likely to soar, pushed up by spiking demand in China and India, it would no longer be more cost-effective to import coal from currently cheap exporting countries than it is to mine locally. 

EUCERS and the Atlantic Council presented two draft studies on the subjects above, which were sent to attendees prior to the meeting.

High-profile speakers including Dr Ashti Hawrami, the Iraqi Kurdish Energy Minister, representatives of academia, banks, energy companies and consultancies reiterated questions related to the challenges facing European countries in securing stable supplies of natural gas.

The first part of the roundtable held at King’s College London saw the launch of “Energy Security Strategies in the Wider Black Sea Region.” The book published by CPEWC investigates potential risks related to security of supply, the importance of alternative routes for the transport of hydrocarbons to European markets and the notion of regional interdependence.

Professor Iulian Chifu and Bogdan Nedea, two of the authors, defended their research theses and answered questions regarding “Southern Corridor” projects such as Nabucco, South Stream gas pipelines as well as AGRI, a Romanian-backed LNG project that aims to transport natural gas from Azerbaijan to Romania via Georgia and the Black Sea.

There were also questions related to the regulatory framework of transit countries and the potential for introducing  more business-friendly regulations in countries.

In the second part of the workshop Dr Hawrami discussed developments in the Kurdish energy sector. The area which sits on sizeable sources of natural gas – anything between 3 – 6trillion cubic metres (tcm) – could become a reliable supplier to the Nabucco gas pipeline.

The EU-backed project aims to transport up to 31billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Azerbaijan, possibly the Kurdish region and Turkmenistan to European markets. Nabucco was expected to go online by 2015 but has now been delayed by two years.

Speakers have warned that without a clear undertaking from Nabucco stakeholders the project is unlikely to get the necessary cash or indeed the necessary gas supplies, which the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) could divert to neighbouring Turkey. The country is already heavily involved in investing in the region’s oil and gas sector.

In fact bank representatives emphasised the need for decisive action from the consortium in order to attract the necessary investments.

The Nabucco consortium has always insisted that the project will ahead according to plans, being the only viable solution for the European markets of all those mooted as part of the “Southern Corridor” vision.

Stakeholders have also stressed their interest in securing vital volumes from the Kurdish region, recognising, at the same time the importance of this new supplier.

The United States of America is already spearheading a “gas revolution” following a large-scale development of shale gas explorations in recent years.

As a result, the natural gas share is tipped to double to 40% of the country’s overall energy needs by 2040, according to a study released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last May.

The question which business leaders, politicians and academics are now keen to answer is whether the US shale gas success could be replicated in Europe where countries such as Poland, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Romania are thought to sit on important resources.

The large event turnout and the number of speakers whose background ranged from scientists to representatives of high-profile energy companies, solicitors, consultants and scholars showed the level of interest in the subject.

Participants and members of the audience agreed that the potential exploitation of shale gas resources in Europe would help the continent to reduce its dependence on suppliers such Russia, Norway or Algeria and therefore become less susceptible to politically motivated energy crises.

But shale gas could not only help Europe to wean itself off traditional suppliers, but also turn countries which have so far have been net importers of natural gas into exporters

The total recoverable reserves in Europe fall between 33 and 38 trillion cubic metres (tcm) according to details quoted in a strategy paper by EUCERS.

Speakers pointed out that although it was premature to quote figures related to costs and potential margins as the European exploration process is yet to take off, the US example shows that it is profitable to explore shale gas.

The break-even point to exploit the resources in the US ranges between $3.50/million cubic feet - $7/million cubic feet, according to the same EUCERS strategy paper.

But there are also drawbacks.

The environmental risks linked to drilling which involves the use of water and chemical substances to fracture gas-rich rocks could lead not only to the contamination of the environment and the release of methane into the atmosphere, but also put pressure on scarcely available water resources.

ExxonMobil which are involved in shale gas explorations in Poland told the audience they were keen to ensure a high-level of transparency to update the public on the actions taken at every stage of exploration.

On the other hand, a member of the academia pointed out that Europe was unlikely to become competitive in terms of commercialising shale gas resources as the existing EU legal framework would prevent the free and easy flow of volumes between different points across the continent.

He said the current lack of harmonisation between the national transmission system operators (TSOs) effectively blocks traders from buying natural gas at certain hubs and shipping it across to other points to cover demand hotspots.

Other speakers briefly hinted at the geopolitical implications of shale gas. If the resource were to become commercially viable in Europe, Central Asian volumes currently seen as a viable alternative to Russian gas could be snapped up by China.

The EUCERS strategy paper prepared for the event was circulated to all attendees who were kindly required to add their comments, thoughts or details and resubmit it to the centre for publication.

The third workshop organised by the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security set out an ambitious aim – to articulate in clear terms the EU’s agenda for Energy Security to 2050. As the ongoing discoveries of conventional and non‐conventional gas resources could cover 250 year worth of global gas production, while Europe itself is within reach of 70% of those proven gas reserves one question prevails: How to ensure that Europe gets a fair share of these resources which are equally coveted by southeast Asia?

High‐profile speakers from a various backgrounds – academia, politics, banks and top energy companies – considered a variety of scenarios which the European Union will have to deal with for the security of energy supplies. Following a welcome address and short intro by Friedbert Pflüger the first panel considered facts trends and scenarios of energy in Europe until 2050. Speakers included Andrew Bartlett (Global Head, Oil & Gas Project Finance, Standard Chartered UK), Andreas Goldthau (Associate Professor at the Central European University in Budapest), Karl Rose (Senior Fellow, Scenarios, World Energy Council) and David Wells (Vice President, Global LNG Supply, Shell UK). 

The afternoon panel discussed the geopolitics of pipelines, with contributions by Andy Barrett (Senior Associate, IHS Cera), Joachim Bitterlich (Ambassador(ret.), Executive Vice President International, Veolia Environnement Paris), Janusz Luks (CEO, Central Europe Energy Partners), Frank Umbach (Associate Director EUCERS, Senior Associate Centre for European Security Strategies Munich) and Stefan Schaible (Partner, Head of the International Civil Economics Competence Center, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants).

After the reception held by invitation of Jonathan Scheele, Head of EC Representation in the UK, EUCERS, King’s College London welcomed over 200 guests to a keynote lecture by Günther Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Energy. Following the Commissioner’s speech (please click here for the RAPID press release), Charles Hendry (Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change), Marco Arcelli (Executive Vice President Enel), Volker Beckers (Group CEO RWE npower) and Peter Mather (Regional Vice President Europe and Head of Country UK at BP plc) discussed their standpoints on Energy Security for Europe and the EU Agenda until 2050.

The day was concluded by a Q&A session with the Commissioner and the panel speakers. Panellists and audience alike conceded that the greatest challenges do no lie in the technological difficulties involved in exploring and exploiting resources, but in the dynamics underlying current geopolitical relations. While the complex questions raised by the workshop are yet to find answers, they, at least, sowed the seeds for future discussions to be organised by EUCERS.

The one-day workshop featured presentations by Dr Frank Umbach (Associate Director EUCERS/Centre for European Security Strategies), Andreas Radmacher (RWE Turkey), Hüseyin Bagci (Middle East Technical University in Ankara) and Iulian Chifu (Center for Conflict Prevention and Early Warning in Bucharest) who discussed Nabucco, the Southern Gas Corridor and the perspectives for Europe and Turkey.

The following panel on EU, NATO and Turkey and the geopolitics of energy included lectures by General Armin Hasenpusch (former Vice President of the German Federal Information Service), Gareth Winrow (Turkey specialist) and Peter Mather (BP plc).

The workshop was followed by a buffet dinner by invitation of the Austrian Embassy in London. Elisabeth Kögler (Minister – Deputy Head of Mission) gave the address to the workshop participants. 

Dr Wolfgang Schüssel, former Chancellor of Austria, held the keynote speech on Turkey as an Energy Hub for Europe at the Edmond J Safra Theatre at King’s with a subsequent question and answer session.

EUCERS was officially established with a few words by the Head of Department, Professor Mervyn Frost prior Dr Schüssel's keynote.

Dr Ligia Noronha, Executive Director TERI and member of the EUCERS Advisory Board welcomed participants and pointed out in her introduction, that TERI has focused on clean coal over the past years, since coal plays an important role in serving India’s increased demand for energy resources.

Professor Dr Friedbert Pflüger, who discussed the role of coal in the energy mix, followed Dr Noronha. He stated that coal will remain a strong player, and supported his argument by numbers of the International Energy Agency (IEA) which show that by 2035 coal might even play a stronger role than oil. The climate change challenge and its effects, which were visible again in recent pictures after hurricane Sandy, hit the east coast of the U.S. A recent report by Munich RE has also shown the rising numbers of climate change catastrophes. Thus clean coal technologies have to be developed to make the use of coal sustainable.

John Lyman, Director of the Atlantic Council U.S. stressed the importance of coal for the energy mix in India and worldwide. All available energy resources are needed, according to Lyman, to meet the global demand for energy. If the demand for energy is not met, poverty, hunger and distress will increase and we have to find ways to make all resources work. Thus we need to find ways to make coal cleaner, so we can use coal without triggering more environmental catastrophes.

Tomislav Delinic of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in India gave a few remarks, highlighting the importance of the topic. Jessica Morton explained the main aim of the Global CCS Institute in Australia as to facilitate the development and deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Currently eight large-scale integrated projects on CCS are run worldwide, which store a total of 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. According to Jessica, the difficulties in running these projects are to secure financing of the project, as well as selecting sites, achieve public acceptance and development of climate change legislation. Government policies are essential for enabling CCS projects and climate change legislation must not be delayed.

After the break Dr Malti Goel, Former Adviser and Senior Scientist at the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Indian Government gave us a view from India. Dr Goel explained the importance of coal for India, as 85% of coal produced is used for the power sector and India is highly dependent on coal. The history of clean coal in India goes back to the 70s. In 1973 first investigations and an assessment of importance of clean coal was conducted. 1986 brought research and development in coal beneficiation, gasification and liquefaction. In 1997 policy guidelines came into force, which prevented coal plants to be within 1000km of urban areas or pit head. Today policies are climate change oriented and a national action plan in climate change came into force in 2008. The main issue raised during Dr Goel’s presentation was, if coal will be around long enough to make CCS technology viable.

EUCERS Asscoiate Director Dr Frank Umbach followed Dr Goel. Umbach illustrated the importance of coal for the global energy mix with the help of a few statistics. Coal accounts for 32% of today’s energy mix. Between 2000-2010 coal grew by 48% – no other resource has had a comparable increase. In fact the demand for coal has grown as much as the demand for all other energy sources together. India is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world and the third largest coal producer, after China and the U.S. To realize CCS technologies in India – Umbach urged – change in legislation and energy policy is essential.

Professor DK Sharma of the IITD in Delhi joined us and confirmed that the demand for coal in India will rise – especially in the electricity sector. India holds currently resources of 280bn tonnes of coal. The production will have to be cleaned to make coal usage sustainable, which currently causes high pollution in India.

Agneev Mukherjee of TERI presented a study carried out by TERI on CCS after the lunch break. The report also confirmed the importance of coal for India’s energy sector. Coal production in India is higher than the production of oil or gas – 57% of India’s energy comes from coal. The report addresses legal issues, such as the long-term ownership of carbon dioxide and liability issues of storage. Following issues were addressed: access and property rights, monitoring and verifying storage, ensuring maintenance, post-closure responsibilities, responsibility in the event of leakage of stored CO2 and disposal of stored CO2. TERI’s report also outlined the barriers CCS technology is facing in India. There is a lack of accurate geological storage site data. CCS will also increase electricity costs. The Infrastructure would have to be extended. And legal issues arise related to land acquisition, ground water contamination and CO2 leakage.

Opportunities and Challenges of Implementing Coal Sequestration in India was the title of Vikram Vishal’s presentation, a PhD student at the Department of Civil Engineering at the IIT Bombay/Manash. Vishal presented on the opportunities by injection of CO2, followed by Pamela Tomski of the Atlantic Council U.S. Tomski addressed different US-Indian Initiatives, such as the US India Fossil Energy Cooperation or PACE Programme – a framework within each government (US and India) gives 25 million dollar per year for 5 years to advance US-Indian partnership in the development of clean energy technologies. The PACE programme mainly focuses on renewables but under PACE D fossil fuels is managed with approximately 2 million for the design of modern coal plant development. Tomski concluded with the notion that in the US the focus is no longer on CCS but shifted to CCUS – Carbon Capture Usage and Storage.

The event was concluded by a summary of Professor Pflüger, Amit Kumar of TERI and John Lyman. Lyman concluded the one-day workshop with the words “We have the potential of doing something great – the question is to get political support for clean coal technologies in India and worldwide”.