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Show 2 3 4 8 4. EUROPEAN UNION STRATEGY ON CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY RID The need to reassess the RID Strategy of the European Union for coal is even more important than for energy in general. Important changes in the political context will occur with the signature of the European Union (Maastricht Treaty): a) the principles of subsidiarity 1 and cohesion2 must be reinforced; b) the environmental impact and CO2 emissions must be reduced. The budget allocated to Clean Coal Technologies RTD will not increase in the same ratio as the tasks and challenges: a) the fourth framework programme will not receive all the funds required (its initial proposal of 15.2 MECU was reduced to 12.3 MECU); b) the reduced funds have to include demonstration activities; c) the duration is increased from four to five years; d) the EFTA countries wiII also benefit from the fourth framework programme.3 The RID budget of the European Union corresponds to about 3% of the national budget. It is not the aim of the framework programmes to produce 3% more results, but to make a real difference. Only a global energy and coal specific coherent RDDDD4 strategy will allow to make the difference. Unfortunately, in the past, 'shopping lists' or 'tables of needs' were called strategy. The reduced funds available were thinly spread over a large number of often excellent individual R&D projects, but no technological break through was achieved. A. Basic Concepts. About 40% of the electricity in Europe and worldwide is produced from coal. Scenarios indicate that this share is not likely to be reduced significantly in the next decades and that coal will continue to be a vital factor in the world economy. Consumption of coal wiII increase rapidly in the developing countries - and especially in India and China - and coal will be continued to be used massively in Central and Eastern Europe so that the market for clean coal technologies developed in Europe can be expected to expand greatly over the next decade or so. The most promising short- and medium-term approach to reducing CO2 emission is to improve the conversion efficiency of fossil fuels - and more particularly coal - into useful energy, The principle of subsidiarity requests the European Union to tackle only those subjects which cannot or should not be executed at national or regional level. The principle of cohesion requests the strong nations or regions to support fmancially, technologically or by other means the weaker or less favoured countries or regions. After the signature of the EEA agreement which is expected for I January 1994. RDDDD: Research, Development, Demonstration, Dissemination and Demand stimulation. |
