The Abbott government is tying the success of its Direct Action policy to a clean coal technology that is still in the very early stages of development. Paddy Manning tracks the quest for the clean coal holy grail and investigates the men getting unspeakably rich from the search.

It is a key plank of the federal government’s Direct Action strategy to combat climate change and its centrepiece $2.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund, which finally passed through the Senate at the end of October with the support of the Palmer United Party and key independents.

However, the CSIRO technology in question—the Direct Injection Carbon Engine, or DICE—exists only as a prototype single-cylinder 16 kilowatt, 3.9 litre diesel engine in a lab in Newcastle.