A joint project between Chinese and European energy and research organisations to produce electricity from fossil fuels without releasing carbon dioxide has been launched.

The Chinese-European Emission-Reducing Solutions (CHEERS) research and development scheme is made up of eight project partners, including Norway’s SINTEF Energi, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University from China and Total from France.

They aim to develop a petcoke-fired 3MW demonstration power plant in the Sichuan province of China, which is expected to be one of the largest sites of its kind in the world.

In the process, carbon dioxide emissions will be immediately captured without being released into the atmosphere – they will then be stored underground or reused to make valuable chemicals.

The electricity and steam produced from hydrocarbons will be used by energy retailers in other industrial sites.

The four-year project, budgeted at nearly €20 million (£17.8m), is being financed by the EU and China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.