Clean Coal: Wave of the Future or Empty Rhetoric?

Through rustic images of America and a call for technological ingenuity, “clean coal” media advertisements became pervasive across the United States this year.

The coal industry promises an abundant and cheap energy solution that also protects the environment. Yet the clean coal solution to climate change is not currently economical, leading many environmentalists to criticize the advertisements as deceptive.

To shed some light on the clean coal debate, the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, reviewed how much the industry is actually spending on climate change solutions. The study found that the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity – 48 coal and utility companies – is investing $3.5 billion into projects that capture and store emissions, including many projects that have yet to begin.

In order for coal to remain an energy option in a warming world, international observers say the research funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), the leading clean coal technology, must increase. Otherwise, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to rise to levels of irreversible damage if the current rate of coal burning continues.

“[Coal companies] use