At a meeting organised by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the sidelines of the 8th Clean Energy Ministerial Meeting (CEM) in Beijing on Tuesday 6 June, Australia, Canada, China, Norway, the United States and the EU affirmed the importance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology among the ways to reduce carbon emissions, given that gas and coal will still have a significant role in the global energy mix.
Discussing how to increase collaboration in order to drive further deployment of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology, the ministers of the above mentioned countries (or the heads of delegation for Australia and for the Commission, which was representing the EU) and leaders from the industry and key organisations discussed the factors that have attracted investment to current CCUS projects and highlighted the importance of identifying where these factors could converge to replicate recent success with CCUS projects.
The discussion focused on the vital role of CCUS in reducing carbon dioxide emissions while ensuring energy security. Participants acknowledged the importance of revenue streams, such as from CO2 utilisation, available transport and storage options, and political leadership in securing investment in CCUS projects, the IEA said. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the IEA would undertake detailed analysis of the conditions and factors that have led to the investment in existing CCUS projects, and how they may be replicated elsewhere.
The countries represented in the discussion host 19 of the 22 projects currently in operation or construction globally. China recently announced the start of construction on the country’s first large-scale CCUS project in Shaanxi Province.
Highlighting the success of projects like Petra Nova in Texas, the world’s largest post-combustion carbon-capture system, US Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry made clear the importance of CCUS as a clean technology with a “vital role in the future of energy production”. In his view, it is impossible to “have a real conversation about clean energy without including CCUS”.
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr underlined the “enormous potential” of CCUS technology for enabling growth and creating jobs while ensuring the environment is protected.
The IEA has consistently highlighted the importance of CCUS in low carbon energy systems, stating that its “analysis consistently shows that CCUS is a critical part of a complete clean energy technology portfolio that provides a sustainable path for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring energy security”.
“Investment has flowed to CCUS projects where there is a confluence of factors which constitute a viable business case. We need to find more such opportunities, where a commercial case for CCS can be built with reasonably modest, well targeted public interventions”, argued Birol. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)