Building public awareness of CO2 capture and storage, Brussels

Atomium in Brussel
© Kevin Bergenhenegouwen
date November 23, 2010 09:00
city Brussels, Great Britain
location Van Maerlant building (VMA) Show location
attending (Stéphane) Buffetaut i, (Chris) Davies i et al.
organisation European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) i

Conference - Bruxelles

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) is a technology which captures CO2 emissions from large-scale energy conversion processes, typically from coal-fired or gas-fired power plants, or energy-intensive industrial processes. The CO2 is then stored in deep geological formations.

CCS could be used as a bridging technology to help meet the EU's climate objectives and analysis by the International Energy Agency suggests that, without CCS, overall costs to reduce emissions to 2005 levels by 2050 would increase globally by 70%.

CCS is already available but several issues remain, including financing and demonstrating this technology, as well as securing public acceptance for it. As the institutional representative of civil society, the European Economic and Social Committee joins efforts with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy to bring a citizens' perspective to the debate on CCS. All interested parties are therefore invited to attend this conference in order that their views can be gathered and conveyed to the EU decision-making institutions.


1.

European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is an EU advisory body comprising representatives of workers' and employers' organisations and other interest groups. It issues opinions on EU issues to the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, thus acting as a bridge between the EU's decision-making institutions and EU citizens.

What does the EESC do?

It gives the interest groups a formal say on EU legislative proposals. Its 3 key tasks are to:

  • ensure that EU policy and law are geared to economic and social conditions, by seeking a consensus that serves the common good

2.

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