A high-profile line-up of speakers and participants, including Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou and Prince Albert of Monaco, discussed ways to stimulate debate on how to tackle the challenges that climate change presents in the Mediterranean and establish this region as the sustainable energy hub for Europe.
 
The Bellona Foundation was represented at the Mediterranean Sustainable Energy Summit by Paal Frisvold, Chairman of the Board of Bellona Europa, who took part in a panel discussion looking into how “CCS can offer a sustainable solution to secure energy supplies for Greece and Southeast Europe.”

European Commission official, Vassilios Kougionas and Athens University Professor and Director of the E3M-Lab Pantelis Kapros also participated in the panel discussion, chaired by Andreas Papandreou, Founder and Chairman of the Institute for Climate and Energy Security.

All participants agreed that Greece needs to seriously consider CCS, not only because it currently produces almost 58 percent of electrical energy by burning emission intensive lignite, but also because of the projected rise of the cost of CO₂ emissions in the EU market.

As Frisvold underscored: “CCS is an important bridging technology which Greece will need to look into, especially as the Greek power sector will need to fully pay for emissions by 2013.”

Yet CCS is not only an emission mitigation tool and an essential technology to avoid heavy emission costs. CCS can be approached as an important business opportunity that can include numerous economic actors and enhance cooperation between Greece and its neighbours. CCS technology should be part of the new Greek government’s initiative to foster growth during troubled economic times and create a favourable setting for business endeavour.

What is more, CCS collaboration could become a token of the strong cooperation that Greece’s Prime Minister George Papadreou is seeking to develop with neighbouring countries.

Frisvold was adamant about this vision.

“CCS is a phenomenal business opportunity and a fantastic prospect for the opening of new markets including the Greek shipping community which could export CO₂ to countries such as Turkey, Algeria or Italy,” Frisvold said.

“The industry has to become part of the solution, not part of the problem (…) Furthermore the suggested strong potential of Greece in growing sustainable biomass could set the ground for carbon neutral or carbon negative electricity production through the combination of biomass and CCS,” he added.

Because of these exciting prospects, Greece needs to start working hard to create a holistic approach on utilising the opportunities presented by the application of CCS. Greece can gain a significant advantage by being a first mover rather than a technology importer, by using relevant EU funding which is available under the NER300 scheme.

“Greece can apply for a CCS project under the second round of the NER300 by 2013. As the selection process takes into consideration geographical balance and emission intensity, Greece has excellent chances of being awarded funding to go forward with an externally funded CCS project (…).” Said Frisvold.

“Bellona wants to bring together stakeholders and leading research institutes to inform the Greek industry about the long-term prospects and opportunities that can arise as a result of wide CCS application in Greece,” he said.