A number of positive ideas to advance clean coal technologies have been generated at today’s NSW Clean Coal Summit held at Parliament House, Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Ian Macdonald said today.

The summit, which featured Professor Ross Garnaut, was attended by around 150 delegates from the mining, investment, infrastructure and research industries, along with State and Federal Government Department representatives.

"The discussions between experts from industry and government were extremely
constructive, and their work on this issue is not only vital for NSW but for the entire world," Mr Macdonald said.

Outcomes from the summit include:

• Proposal for a national emissions coal council carbon storage taskforce.
• Support for a coordinated national approach in the assessment and identification of potential storage sites and transport options.
• The widespread abundance of coal globally and the importance of coal as an energy source means that the world will continue to rely on it as an energy source for generations to come.
• It is important that near term targets are established to drive technical innovation.
• There is an urgent need to accelerate clean coal technologies, particularly in developing strategic demonstration projects.
• Low emission technologies are the foundation for an urgent and necessary strategy to secure our future.

"The ideas generated from the summit are a step in the right direction to meeting our greenhouse gas emission targets and securing our future energy needs," Mr Macdonald said.

"Any energy strategy must address our continuing need for coal. There is no way around it and clean coal technology answers this call - Al Gore, Professor Ross Garnaut, Sir Nicholas Stern and the IPCC agree.

"The Iemma Government is committed to the development of clean coal technology, which supports the continuation of an industry that provides enormous benefits for NSW.

"Clean coal technology is about the future - the Owen Inquiry noted the need for coal-fired power to meet the State’s base-load energy requirements beyond 2013."