The world hit an uncomfortable milestone recently, when it was announced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions had reached 396 parts per million, the highest level in the past 800,000 years. Coal is responsible for about one-third of those CO2 emissions.

With the UAE’s Energy Ministry exploring the possibility of expanding on Dubai’s coal programme across the emirates, including Abu Dhabi, it means the question of whether coal can ever be clean could take on renewed significance in the country.

Dubai’s planned energy programme states that by 2030, 12 per cent of its power will come from coal, and for the UAE as a whole, usage will rise if it is decided the fuel should also be part of the  broad mix of fuels that contribute to the emirates’ energy security.

Dubai says its 1,200MW carbon capture-ready plant in Hassyan will use clean coal, although the final decision on the type of coal, and therefore the level of pollutants it emits, will depend on the final bid chosen to build the plant.

Technology will be in place to prevent nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide from entering the atmosphere, but there are doubts over whether commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be in place to prevent the facility from adding to the record levels of CO2.

Today, there is little evidence of commercial-scale CCS. At the vanguard is Boundary Dam power station in Canada, planning to capture up to 90 per cent of its CO2 emissions, but the technology remains unproven on a large scale.

Over the coming six years, CCS will need to make massive strides if it is to be commercially viable; otherwise Dubai, and perhaps later Abu Dhabi, will be contributing further to the world’s coal-based CO2 emissions.