EU finally approves €4bn CCS plan

EU member states have approved a plan to share out €4bn (£3.5bn) to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) schemes and fund high-tech renewables projects.

At least eight CCS projects will receive funding, as well as ocean thermal energy conversion technologies and systems to convert cellulose from plant waste into biofuels, biogas or electricity.

As part of the plan, 300 million permits from a reserve fund of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme will be transferred to the European Investment Bank (EIB), converted into cash and distributed to the chosen projects after the Bank has assessed them.

Proposals must be submitted by the end of 2010. The EIB's assessment will be finished by the end of 2011 and projects should be up and running by 2015.

Chris Davies, the British MEP who was a co-author of the original initiative, said in a statement that the decision came after months of deadlock over who should have authority to distribute the funds.

"It took just three months for prime ministers to accept the principle of the funding mechanism I proposed, but it has taken 13 months to gain approval for the details," he said.

"Europe says it wants to lead the world in the development of green technology but we will only do that if we speed up our decision-taking process, " he added.

Up to three of the CCS projects to receive funding could be in Britain, according to Davies.

Although it is not compulsory, member states are expected to contribute extra funds to the test projects.

Davies expressed confidence that CCS projects would soak up the majority of the funding because their size and financial requirements were greater than those of the renewable technologies.