CCC/198 ISBN 978-92-9029-518-1

May 2012

copyright © IEA Clean Coal Centre

Abstract

This report provides a review of the various options being pursued to reduce carbon intensities in five

developing countries, namely Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. These are major

emerging economies, all of which are vulnerable to adverse effects from climate change, with their

governments having to balance economic, environmental and social priorities. All have large carbon

footprints; however, in each case, they have made commitments to reduce carbon intensities over the

period to 2030 and, in some cases, beyond. The approach to be adopted varies from country to

country, depending on both technical and economic drivers. China, India, Indonesia and South Africa

have fossil fuel based economies, in which in three cases coal is the dominant energy source while for

the other (Indonesia) coal is an important and growing component of the energy mix. In all four

countries, while the introduction of renewable energy and nuclear power is being addressed to varying

degrees, establishing higher efficiency coal-fired power plants is seen as an important and near-term

step in reducing carbon intensities. At the same time, China, Indonesia and South Africa have shown

interest in CCS as a future mitigation option, with government policies identifying it as a key

development priority. In contrast, in India, there is at present little interest in the technology. In the

case of Brazil, the very different energy mix compared to the other four countries means that there is

little interest in CCS for the power sector since that is dominated by renewable energy use. However,

while there is a lack of policies to support CCS, the government’s limitations on CO2 release from oil

and gas extraction from the newly discovered deposits has provided a powerful driver for CCS related

R&D. Following a description of the respective programmes, suggestions are made on the need to

accelerate the development and deployment of CCS technologies, especially in those developing

countries that have established policies to counter climate change and have recognised the potential

importance of CCS as a carbon mitigation technique. It is also suggested that it is important to support

the nearer-term but equally critical initiatives to establish higher efficiency and cleaner coal units for

power and non-power applications.