The future use of coal will require strict environmental compliance with an increasing need to minimise emissions of CO2, particularly from power plants. A pan-European approach is being established to ensure that EU industry can have available, by 2020, fossil fuel power plants that are either capable of capturing almost all their CO2 emissions in an economically viable manner, or are designed to include CO2 capture systems ("capture-ready"). The overall aim is to provide a significant impetus to research, development, demonstration and deployment activities such that coal and other fossil fuels can be used in a sustainable manner. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.