To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department has taken to ensure the use and sale of cleaner coal and gas across the UK. (150609)

The Government have been taking action on a number of fronts to ensure fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas are used cleanly. The two key areas for reducing CO₂, SO₂ and NO_x are as follows.

The development of the Carbon Abatement Technology Strategy for Fossil Fuel Use, published in June 2005 (reference URN 05/844) sets out a path towards the cleaner use of fossil fuels enabling them to have a role in a sustainable world with significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. As a result of this the Government announced in the Budget this year a competition to demonstrate carbon capture and storage power plant which has the potential to reduce CO₂ emissions from power plant by up to 90 per cent. The Strategy document is available in the House of Commons Library and also can be found at

www.berr.go.uk/energy/sources/sustainability/carbon-abatement-tech/techstrategy.

Additionally the Government are implementing the European Commission's ‘large combustion plant directive’, (LCPD, 2001/80/EC) aimed at significantly reducing SO₂ and NO_x emissions as well as dust from power plant and other large industrial installations, This directive comes into effect from the start of 2008. Website Address:

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/eu-int/eu-directives/lcpd.