In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) began conducting a joint program with the industry and State agencies to demonstrate clean coal technologies large enough for commercial use. The program, called the Clean Coal Technology & Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI), has had a number of successes that have reduced emissions and waste from coal-based electricity generation. By 2000, the EPA and DOE made many basic systems required. The National Energy Technology Laboratory has administered three rounds of CCPI funding and the following projects were selected during each round:
* Round 1 CCPI Projects
** Advanced Multi-Product Coal Utilization By-Product Processing Plant
** Demonstration of Integrated Optimization Software at the Baldwin Energy Complex
** Gilberton Coal-to-Clean Fuels and Power Co-Production Project
** Increasing Power Plant Efficiency: Lignite Fuel Enhancement
** TOXECON Retrofit for Mercury and Multi-Pollutant Control on Three 90-MW Coal-Fired Boilers
** Western Greenbrier Co-Production Demonstration Project
** Commercial Demonstration of the Airborne Process
** Integration of Advanced Emission Controls to Produce Next-Generation Circulating Fluid Bed Coal Generating Unit
* Round 2 CCPI Projects
** Airborne Process Commercial Scale Demonstration Program
** Demonstration of a Coal-Based Transport Gasifier
** Mercury Species and Multi-Pollutant Control Project
** Mesaba Energy Project
* Round 3 CCPI Projects
** American Electric Power Project
** Antelope Valley Station Post-Combustion  Project
** Hydrogen Energy California Project
** NRG Energy Project
** Southern Company Carbon Capture Kemper Project (switching to natural gas)
** Summit Texas Clean Energy Project
These programs have helped to meet regulatory challenges by incorporating pollution control technologies into a portfolio of cost-effective regulatory compliance options for conventional and developmental coal-fired power plants. This portfolio has positioned the U.S. as a top exporter of technologies such as those used for coal and mercury, and more recently for carbon capture, consistent with a goal of deploying advanced coal-based power systems in commercial service. The DOE continues its programs and initiatives through regional sequestration partnerships, a carbon sequestration leadership forum and the Carbon Sequestration Core Program, a CCS research and development program.
According to a 1999 report by the assistant secretary for fossil energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, clean coal technology has paid measurable dividends. Technological innovation introduced through the CCT Program now provides consumers cost-effective, clean, coal-based energy. By  2015, the estimated emissions per coal plant went down by 22%.
Proposed CCS sites are subjected to extensive investigation and monitoring to avoid potential hazards, which could include leakage of sequestered  to the atmosphere, induced geological instability, or contamination of water sources such as oceans and aquifers used for drinking water supplies. As of 2021 the only demonstrator for CCS on a coal plant that stores the gas underground is part of the Boundary Dam Power Station.