CSIRO's total investment in reducing greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 9%, specifically in the Energy Transformed Flagship.

Research will be concentrating on a range of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies, including clean coal technologies. This will include low emission electricity production technologies such as gasification, post-consumption capture and sequestration.

This will include lower-emission generation technologies, as well as systems of capturing carbon and string it underground.

One of the key initiatives being developed by the Energy Transformed Flagship, known as Post Combustion Capture (PCC), can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 85% from existing coal and gas-fired power stations when coupled with carbon storage.

“CSIRO must move with the times, and increasingly ahead of the times, if Australia’s scientific research is to be relevant for the challenges that face Australia,” CSIRO chief Geoff Garrett said.

CSIRO will reduce its work on renewable enerry and will refocus activities in that sector on areas in which it can have a significant impact.

These include using solar energy to transform natural gas to hydrogen and separating it from carbon dioxide; post-combustion capture of carbon dioxide for geosequestration; and more efficient means of storing and distributing energy from sources such as wind.