mr president i thank mr ehler very much for his report on the communication of the commission on supporting early demonstration of sustainable power generation from fossil fuels
we appreciate the general support in the report for our policy objectives and for the recognition of the important role ccs can play in combating climate change worldwide
the report also clearly recognises the urgent need for up to twelve large-scale demonstration projects to make ccs commercially viable by twenty twenty
our communication has to be seen as a part of the complete and comprehensive climate and energy package which includes the ccs directive which sets the legal framework for allowing operation of ccs technologies in europe the emission trading system which provides the economic and commercial framework for ccs and the commission's proposal that suggests that twenty of the auction revenues are earmarked by member states for investment in low-carbon technologies such as ccs
no matter what the final decision is the auctioning revenues will be one of the substantial financing sources for ccs demonstration projects
finally our communication also suggests the creation at the beginning of two thousand and nine of a european coordination structure to support ccs demonstration projects through knowledge-sharing joint communication activities and other joint actions
i appreciate your general endorsement of the climate and energy package and especially the communication
however the report also states that the efforts of the commission might not be sufficient to reach the aim stated by the council of having up to twelve demonstration projects
i understand this concern
to address the financing issue an amendment to the ets proposal has been adopted by the committee on the environment proposing to use eur five hundred million allowances from the new entrance reserve to finance ccs demonstration projects
the commission has sent a policy option paper to parliament in order to help build consensus in the council too to ensure sufficient financing of low-carbon technologies
in the report two other issues are also raised with which the commission cannot fully agree at this point in time
first the report calls on the commission to produce a detailed assessment of the costs and the share of private and public funding of each of the twelve demonstration facilities
let me say in this context that the demonstration projects will only be identified after competitive tenders organised either at european or at member state level
cost assessments are currently underway but they can only provide rough cost estimates as each project is unique
secondly it also suggests the use of resources from the risk-sharing finance facility to support ccs
as resources here have been fully committed as you know any change would require amendments to the seventh framework programme
so let me conclude by thanking you for the excellent work on the report and i hope also that parliament will keep the overall direction and objectives of the report in the vote
