Coal is an important source of energy, accounting for about 25% of the world's primary energy and about 20% of Japan's. Yet the CO₂ emission per heating value from coal is quite large. An important challenge, for the continued use of coal, has been to reduce CO₂ emission by enhancing efficiency. Studies have recently been conducted on CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) in order to reduce CO₂ emission further. The Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) has been attracting attention as the most efficient and economic coal firing thermal power generation technology for capturing CO₂. This paper reports on the forefront trends in IGCC and CO₂ capture.