offhand, it seems odd.

if you have an energy source that can effect the reduction of CO2 to CO, why wouldn't you use it as a DIRECT energy source?

I can see some scenarios - you can pass CO2 over hot coal and reduce it to CO2, but you're just burning coal in an elaborate way there.

If you NEED to make methanol, the Haber process is "relatively" energy efficient - input CO2 + CH4 +H2O and output polymerised hydrocarbons. The best feedstock for this is high-CO2 natural gas, but you could work it all up from coal if you HAD to (like Germany, in WWII).

Anyways, I'll try again for the article another day when it isn't simultaneously a public holiday on both sides of the Pacific...