Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute's launch showed Australia was facing up to its responsibilities as the world's largest coal exporter.

Rudd said the institute, founded with 100 million dollars (70 million US) of government money, would help develop technology that allowed coal emissions to be captured and safely stored.

"Carbon capture and storage is not the only answer to the climate change challenge," he said.

"But it is a very important part of the global transition to a lower carbon global economy, a transformation of the global economy every bit as significant as the industrial revolution in the 18th century and the information revolution of recent times."

The institute's goal is to develop technology capable of "geosequestration" -- where carbon dioxide gases from coal that are blamed for global warming are captured, compressed and stored in stable rock formations in the Earth's crust.

It aims to develop 20 commercially viable carbon capture and storage plants globally by 2020.

Rudd said such technology was necessary because it was a "cold, hard reality" that coal would remain the globe's major source of energy for many years to come.

He said 85 nations, corporations and institutions had signed up to join the institute since it was first proposed seven months ago.

General Electric Australia and New Zealand chief executive Steve Sargent said the institute could help develop a way to reduce coal emissions.

"The long-term viability of this industry depends on our ability to use our technology and know-how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the process of generating electricity from coal," he said.

But Greenpeace said the institute was a public relations exercise designed to take the heat off the heavily polluting coal industry, describing the goal of building 20 plants by 2020 as "impossible."

"The government is making sure that Australia remains dependant on dirty coal well into the future, even though the government itself admits that emissions from coal are directly related to climate change," Greenpeace said.

"This goal is impossible and the government knows that -- they're just using spin to try and buy an extension for their fossil fuel industry buddies."

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