COORETEC funding initiative

The large majority of the world's electricity is generated by power plants that run on fossil fuels. The combustion of coal, natural gas and mineral oil accounts for 61 percent of electricity worldwide and 58 percent in Germany. This involves the release of over 1.6 t of carbon dioxide per capita every year. Power generation results in over 3.7 t of CO₂ per annum for every resident of Germany. In order to address this problem, CO₂ Reduction Technologies (abbreviated to: COORETEC) are to be used to reduce CO₂ emissions effectively.

The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology's COORETEC funding initiative was established to support the development of these technologies. This initiative is part of the German Federal Government’s 6th energy research programme since August 2011. The first projects supported by the COORETEC funding initiative were initiated at the start of 2004. With the COORETEC Lighthouse Concept "The path to fossil-fired power plants for the future" in June 2007, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology strategically targeted its funding activities as regards efficiency increase and the capture and storage of CO₂ towards development goals for 2020.

As part of COORETEC, Project Management Jülich initiated a total of 319 projects with total approved funding of 171,2 million euros between January 2004 and December 2010. In addition, over 140,5 million euros of internal and third-party funding has been made available. The focus of this project funding is joint projects conducted by industry and science together.