"We must try every energy option to shift to a low-carbon world," Miliband wrote in The Times newspaper yesterday (27 April). He defended the UK government's recent about-turn in policy after last week's announcement of a ban on new coal plants without carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities.
"The most important technology the world can develop is the technology to capture carbon emissions and store them permanently deep underground," he said, arguing that it is important to keep coal stations operating to reduce dependence on imported gas.
The UK government last week (23 April) announced that it would not allow any more coal plants to be built without carbon capture and underground storage (CCS) facilities. It pledged to build up to four energy "clusters", generating around 300MW of power, before 2020.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Miliband said there is an international imperative to make coal clean, as many countries keep on building new coal-fired plants at an accelerated pace, taking the world further away from halting climate change.
The UK intends to become the leader in developing CCS. Its need to do so is real, as it last week pledged a major emissions cut of 34% from 1990 levels by 2020. At the same time, a third of existing power stations are going to close in the next decade, as they fail to meet EU pollution standards.
The demonstration projects are estimated to cost £0.75-1.5billion. This could be paid for by a feed-in tariff or a fixed price on carbon stored, for example.
Nevertheless, environmentalists warned that CCS has yet to be tested on a commercial scale. They were concerned that the UK would become the first country to require every coal station to be fitted with the technology before there are any guarantees that it will work.
Green MEP Caroline Lucas said it would be better to use government money on tried technologies that deliver emissions cuts and create jobs more quickly. "Investment in renewables, for example, could generate four times as many jobs 10 years sooner than CCS," she said.
Greenpeace UK Director John Sauven said the UK did not need new coal, but should prioritise energy efficiency and renewable energy.
"Nevertheless, if the government still chooses to proceed with coal and CCS, then first and foremost it must rule out a fleet of new unabated coal plants operating for half a century and destroying our chances of meeting our climate change targets or showing leadership to the rest of the world in cutting CO2," he wrote on the Guardian website.
