Aust offered zero-emission coal partnership. 23/06/2006. ABC News Online


Germany has offered Australia an international partnership to develop zero-emission clean coal power plants.
Germany has told a climate change conference in South Africa that its first clean coal plant will be ready by 2014 - a decade earlier than expected.
Parliamentary Secretary Greg Hunt, who represented Australia at the conference, says Australia could convert existing power plants to zero-emission facilities.
He says that would reduce emissions by up to 60 per cent over the next 50 years.
"I am sure that this will be of extreme interest to the Environment Minister, the Prime Minister," Mr Hunt said.
"Clean coal is fundamental to Australia's environmental future."
Australia has also been invited to join a Southern Hemisphere environmental partnership to look at changing rainfall patterns.
The partnership's founding members are South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina.