Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel use in many developed and developing countries are expected to be the major source of anthropogenic emissions for the foreseeable future. As a result, the potential to use CO2 capture and storage (CCS) for significant reductions in CO2 emissions from the use of coal (and other fossil fuels) at large point sources could become very important in determining the feasibility of climate change mitigation. Large-scale deployment of CCS in the EU from 2020 has been suggested, but this paper illustrates how time is very short if two complete learning cycles are to be achieved before a possible rollout in the early/mid 2020s. It also highlights some key differences between CO2 capture technologies that suggest that learning can be achieved more quickly with post-combustion capture than with other options. This might allow rollout to be accelerated by perhaps 5 years for post-combustion capture. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.