nevertheless although the new coal plant may be retrofitable with carbon capture and storage at a later date if this technology becomes proven and costeffective assuming an effective future pricing regime for carbon emissions there are significant technological and policy risks in going down this path policy makers can begin to address this dilemma by separating the potential risk of lockin to coal generation plant per se from the risk of lockin to unsustainable industrial structures in the wider economy the risk of creating stranded assets in the energy sector discussed in the next section may be dwarfed by the risk of creating stranded assets in the wider economy using cheap electricity to grow energyintensive industry at the expense of more valueadded economic activities may be unwise given the eventual need to internalise the cost of environmental impacts including carbon emissions and the costs of industrial restructuring this would imply in the future