The National Low Emissions Coal Initiative (NLECI) has been set up by the Australian Government to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies that will reduce emissions from coal use. This will enable coal to make a major contribution to reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent of 2000 levels by 2050.
The Initiative is being developed and implemented with the support and involvement of stakeholders from state and territory governments, industry, researchers and the community. A major focus of the Initiative is on the research, demonstration and deployment of low-emission coal technologies involving carbon capture and storage.
Under this initiative, the Government has established the Carbon Storage Taskforce (CSTF) to develop a roadmap to drive prioritisation of, and access to, a national geological storage capacity to accelerate the deployment of CCS technologies in Australia.
The Australian Government is providing $400 million over 8 years to support the NLECI. Specific funding commitments announced in the 2008-09 Budget are outlined in the table below.
| Initiative | Funding ($m) |
|---|
| National Coal Research Program | 75 |
| National Carbon Mapping and Infrastructure Plan | 50 |
| Pilot coal gasification research plant in Qld | 50 |
| Demonstrate post combustion capture (PCC) with carbon capture and storage (CCS) in NSW | 50 |
| Demonstrate post combustion capture (PCC) with carbon capture and storage (CCS) using lignite coal in Vic | 50 |
| Australia-China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology | 20 |