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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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64 China theEUandLatinAmerica:CurrentIssuesandFutureCooperation isthesecondlargestsourceofelectricitygenerationintheEU27 justbehind nuclear 30percent .Insomecountries thisshareisconsiderablyhigher such asinPoland 91percent ), Estonia 91percent ), theCzechRepublic 59per cent and Greece 59percent )( European Commission2008 .Inview of Europesambitiousenergyandclimatechangetargets cleancoaltechnologies mustbedevelopedquickly otherwisecoalcannotcontinuetoplayamajorrolein Europesenergymix.ThesameappliestoChina whichderivesaround70per centofitsenergymixfromcoal. Asindicatedintheintroduction industrialisedcountriesareexpectedtocut greenhousegasemissionsby8095percentinordertoallowglobalemissionsto dropto50percentof1990levelsby2050.ThecurrentenergymixofEU27is largelycharacterisedbycarbonintensivefossilfuelswhichmadeup79percent ofGrossInlandConsumptionin2005 EuropeanCommission2008 .Giventhe carbonintensity ofthe European energy mix and the possibility of renaissance ofcoalonsecurityofsupplygrounds Europecanonlyachieve suchambitiousgreenhousegasreductiontargetsifitdevelopscarboncaptureand storage CCS focusedoncoalfiredpowerproduction butalsoonemissions fromotherfossilbasedformsofpowerproductionandemissionsfromindustry. Undercurrenttechnologicalconditions CCSprocessescancapturearound85per centoftheCO emittedatsource.However theseprocessesreducethethermal efficiencyofplantsby812percent IEA2008 andthusincreasetheneedfor coalinputs. ThesuccessoftheCCStechnologywilllargelydependonthesuccessofthe demonstrationphase publicacceptance thespeedofadoptingEUlegislation andtheprovisionofasecurelegalframework aswellasonthesuccessofthe EUETSandthepriceofCO .ToimproveliabilityandreducethecostsofCCS technologies itisimportantintheshorttomediumtermtodevelopappropriate demonstrationprojects inwhichcurrentlyusedCCStechnologiesareadapted forusein largescale power plants andimproved through research and development.TheEU decidedinDecember2008toraisefundingforthese commercialdemonstrationprojectsbysettingaside300millioncarbonallowances intheEU EmissionsTradingScheme ETS startingin2013 equivalentto aboutEUR9billionatapriceofEUR30pertonneofCO .TheEU willalso needtoacceleratedomesticresearchandwillneedtoincreaseinvolvementin internationalresearchcooperation forexamplewithChina.Afterall CCSis notjustanopportunityfortheEUtocontinuebenefitingfromtheadvantagesof coalbutalsoforcleaningChinaspowersectorandrelatedtechnologyexport opportunities.