RWE is working intensively on climate-friendly technologies to achieve significant reductions of CO₂ emissions caused by generating electricity from coal. The CCS technology (CCS: Carbon Capture and Storage) is the most promising one. With this process, the CO₂ caused by energy generation is not released to the atmosphere, but captured and safely stored underground.

To this end, the coal is not burned, but gasified first in a special power plant (IGCC: Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle). This raw gas consists largely of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. By adding water vapour, the carbon monoxide is transformed into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. In another step, the carbon dioxide is captured and liquefied. In this state, CO₂ is best suited for transportation and subsequent storage.