The EU and China agreed on a partnership project in 2005 for building a fossil fuel plant with CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) in China by 2020, which both parties now are hoping to make firm commitments to realise. The financing of the project between the two parties, the location and type of technology to be used are key subjects to agree upon.

 “There is a large coal-fired power plant opening every week in China. We do not have time to waste to make CCS a reality in China. And to do that, rich countries like the EU need to put new money on the table,” Eivind Hoff of Bellona Europa says.

The discussions about CCS were part of the second meeting of the EU-China High Level Trade and Economic Dialogue (HED), between the European Commission and the Chinese government.

It was led by EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton and Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan on May 7th and 8th 2009, with a total attendance of 14 Commissioners and Director Generals from the European Commission and 12 Chinese Ministers and Vice Ministers.

During the meeting the two sides also had encouraging exchanges on climate change and energy issues, including the low carbon economy, energy efficiency and energy performance standards.

A joint initiative on building codes, labelling and standards for energy efficient building components is expected to be announced at the EU-China summit on May 20th.

A declaration is also to be adopted in the summit next week expected to contain a bi-lateral commitment to reach an agreement at the Copenhagen climate conference in December.

Click here for the press release from the European commission.