Media Releases

Global CCS Institute CEO Brad Page is taking part today in the world’s leading energy conference, the World Energy Congress, in Abu Dhabi. This international conference organised by the World Energy Council will gather Ministers, CEOs, industry representatives and over 4,000 delegates from over 150 countries. Speaking at the event, the Institute hopes to highlight the value and potential of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to deliver climate targets and support emission reduction efforts.

“It is crucial to keep momentum on the need for more CCS ambition. This event is an opportunity to speak to a global audience that CCS deployment is ever more urgent to address emissions from a variety of industries and sectors. For Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, CCS can support the clean energy transition and open the door to a new energy economy with hydrogen. Some regional countries including the United Arab Emirates are already leading efforts to deploy CCS”, said Mr Page. “Supportive policies are key to driving investment and deployment. Public and private collaboration will be crucial to deliver CCS ambitions. The set of technologies can also support a fair and sustainable transition for industrial regions and communities globally.”

The World Energy Congress aims to address the current challenges and issues that global energy industry is currently facing. This is the first time the conference is being hosted in a GCC country. The region is home to two large-scale CCS facilities located respectively in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. This region of the world has many opportunities to develop a variety of applications of CO₂ capture and storage.

The European Commission and the Norwegian Government joined forces to organise the European High-Level Conference on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Oslo today.  The event will gather European climate and energy Ministers, UN’s climate chief, senior government officials, industry and NGO representatives as well as union bodies to discuss the role and future of CCS in Europe.  The conference will also be an opportunity to jointly address how to support the deployment of the technology to deliver Europe’s ambitious climate targets.

Participating at the high-level event, the Global CCS Institute is represented by Mr Claude Mandil, Chairman of the Institute and former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.

“This conference sends a clear message that the European Commission and Norway are committed to deploying CCS to deliver a climate neutral economy in Europe. This will only be possible by creating a supportive policy framework and a clear action plan to scale-up CCS facilities and infrastructure,” said Mr Mandil.  “The window of opportunity is closing, and it is urgent to support CCS with a policy framework that enables the scale-up of investment in this crucial technology and ensures commercial viability and sustainability of future projects. Europe can be a leader in responding to climate change and CCS is a proven and safe technology that needs to be part of solution to tackle this global challenge. There is a pressing need for urgent and concerted European action on CCS.”

The European Commission’s long-term strategic vision for a climate neutral future calls for action on CCS to tackle CO₂ emissions in hard-to-abate sectors. CCS is a part of the seven strategic building blocks presented by the Commission that together can effectively deliver a climate-neutral economy by 2050.

At conference, leaders will address how to support the commercial and large-scale deployment of CCS in Europe and look into international examples of success.

There are currently two operating large-scale CCS facilities in Europe, both located in Norway.  They have been operating respectively since 1996 and 2008. There are an additional nine large-scale CCS facilities in different stages of development in the Netherlands, Ireland and UK. These projects will facilitate the decarbonisation of important industrial clusters and capture of CO₂ emissions from hydrogen production and other industrial facilities such as cement plants.

Further information about the conference can be found here.

The Global CCS Institute welcomes the adopted Council conclusions on the future of energy systems in the Energy Union. Today’s conclusions are another positive sign recognising the role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in delivering Europe’s climate ambition and supporting the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries. As highlighted in the adopted conclusions, carbon capture and storage is part of a portfolio of climate solutions that will enable Europe to meet its climate targets. As Member States work to finalise their National Energy and Climate Plans, it is important time to build a supportive policy environment and  support the development of common CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure.

Read the adopted conclusions here.

Tokyo, Tuesday 18 June 2019: A historic meeting of G20 nations’ environment and energy ministers in Karuizawa, Japan during the weekend has focused attention on carbon capture, utilisation and storage as important, innovative technologies for the global energy transition.

The meeting, to discuss energy transitions and global environment for sustainable growth, resulted in a communique stating the challenges in addressing key global issues, such as climate change, were “complex” and “urgent”.

The communique also detailed the adoption of the ‘G20 Karuizawa Innovation Action Plan on Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth’, aiming to reinforce and enhance a variety of initiatives across the nations, involving multiple stakeholders.

In adopting the plan, the G20 countries will encourage the development and deployment of a range of innovative technologies and approaches, including carbon, capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).

CEO of the Global CCS Institute, Mr Brad Page, welcomed the inclusion of CCUS technologies within the action plan, saying:

“Carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies are an essential inclusion in any global strategy to address climate change, and to reach the net-zero emissions by mid-century target outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“I congratulate the Government of Japan, as G20 hosts, for leading these important discussions, and for the G20 nations for their inclusion of CCUS within the resulting environmental and energy action plan.

“CCUS technology not only has the ability to achieve deep emissions reductions and mitigate global warming, but has capacity to deliver energy security, economic growth and sustainable development”, said Mr Page.

The plan also highlighted the important role of G20 nations in “supporting the private sector in the promotion of innovation, investment and a better business environment to develop and deploy affordable, reliable, sustainable and low GHG emissions energy systems” and stated that governments will continue to play a key role in creating an enabling environment for innovation.

Japan will host the G20 Summit in Osaka on 29-30 June.

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Lucy Temple-Smith (Melbourne): +61 466 982 068 lucy.temple-smith@globalccsinstitute.com

The Global CCS Institute welcomes the UK Government’s announcement to introduce legislation to reach a net-zero target by 2050.  This is a historic moment for climate protection efforts as the UK becomes the first G7 economy to commit to this ambitious climate target. In light of this announcement, the 2008 Climate Change Act will be amended to include the new legally binding target.

The UK’s increased climate ambition will require a portfolio of climate measures, solutions and technologies. In its Clean Growth Strategy, the UK recognised the crucial role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in delivering its climate goals. The set of technologies can support the rapid decarbonisation of the UK economy, this while fostering economic growth opportunities.  Recently, the  UK Committee on Climate Change also recognised that a net-zero target will require important contributions from CCS in industry, for hydrogen production, combined with bioenergy (e.g. for power generation) and in flexible fossil-fired power generation, with up to 75-175 MtCO₂ captured and stored annually by 2050.

Welcoming the announcement, Guloren Turan, General-Manager, Advocacy and Communications at the Global CCS Institute, said: “The UK has a unique opportunity to lead on global climate efforts and be an early mover on CCS technologies.  The Government has set the ambition to deliver CCS at scale during the 2030s. Today’s announcement is an important step forward and creates a predictable path for  future climate policy. It is now essential to create the right framework and policies to drive the deployment innovative technologies like carbon capture and storage which have an important role to play in delivering these ambitious targets.”

There are currently six CCS facilities in development in the UK. These include Acorn CCS, Caledonia Clean Energy, HyNet North West, H21 North of England, Teesside Collective, and BECCS pilot plant at Drax Power Station. Several of these facilities also include hydrogen production.

More information about the UK Government’s approach to CCS here.

Singapore Friday 7 June 2019: Representatives from industry, government, academia and the private sector from across Asia and the globe heard of the vital climate change technology carbon capture and storage (CCS) and its potential to decarbonise emissions intense nations last week.

The message was delivered as part of the Innovate4Climate Conference in Singapore, at a workshop hosted by international think tank the Global CCS Institute whose mission it is to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and storage.

Speakers from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, India’s Dalmia Cement, Japan’s Ministry of Environment, Trade and Industry, and the Global CCS Institute told over 60 attendees of the development and potential of CCS technology in delivering deep emissions reductions; in particular in hard to abate industrial sectors – including cement, steel, fertisler and, petrochemicals – that account for just over 20 per cent of global emissions.

Making introductory comments, Dr Tony Zhang, Senior Client Engagement Lead from the Global CCS Institute said:

“CCS is a suite of safe and proven climate change mitigation technologies that prevents large quantities of CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere. CCS is internationally recognised by specialist climate change bodies, such as the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), as vital to achieving global climate targets under the Paris agreement.

“CCS is an essential clean technology not only because of its ability to achieve deep emissions reductions and mitigate global warming, but also because of its capacity to deliver energy security, economic growth and sustainable development”, said Dr Zhang.

The essential application of CCS as a low-carbon technology in large industrial sectors was demonstrated by Mr Ashwani Pahuja, Chief Sustainability & Finance Officer for India’s Dalmia Cement.

“For the decarbonisation of the cement industry in India, the only solution is carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and we believe our carbon emissions can not only be captured but also utilised effectively”.

“As a climate forward organisation, we want to be part of the solution, and we must be a leader in the field of CCU to move the technology forward”, said Mr Pahuja.

Mr Yoshihiro Kawaguchi from Japan’s Ministry of Environment, Trade and Industry (METI) spoke of the significance of CCS as an emissions reduction technology, and the important role governments can play with supportive policy.

Mr Kawaguchi noted that as CCS deployment increases, costs will come down. He said there is also an increased opportunity for Japan, and all countries, to collaborate on the improvements to technology and progression of CCS globally.

Dr Paul Liu, Assistant Professor at the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore said even with the progress of renewables, CCS remains an essential decarbonisation technology whilst also highlighting its key role in emissions intense industrial processes.

Dr Liu also addressed the question CCS cost, saying there is huge scope to bring costs down through industrial experience and improving energy efficiency processes.

“A lot of work is currently being done on CCS research and development that will result in driving costs down. Many key sectors are working collaboratively, and this will accelerate cost reduction”, said Associate Professor Liu.

The workshop also highlighted the positive outcomes of the transition to a low emissions economy, and the opportunities carbon capture, storage and utilisation technologies present for the South East Asian region.

“The versatility of CCS to deliver deep emissions reductions across all sectors, as well as presenting an enormous opportunity for the creation of a new low emissions economy, is a great strength of the technology.

“This is of particular relevance for Singapore with the presence of an emissions intense petrochemical production industry”, said Dr Zhang.

Innovate4Climate is an annual event and in 2019 was hosted by the National Climate Change Secretariat (Singapore Government), the World Bank and the Ministry of Ecological Transition (Government of Spain), the event partner is IETA.

Currently, there are forty-three (43) large-scale CCS facilities – 18 commercially, five under construction and 20 in various stages of development. Australia’s first CCS facility, Gorgon, is due to come onstream this year.

Brisbane Friday 31 May 2019: International leaders from industry, government, academia and the private sector have heard of the urgency of addressing rising emissions whilst learning of the opportunities the transition to a low emissions economy presents.

Speaking at the APAC CCS Forum, Brad Page CEO of event organiser the Global CCS Institute, told more than 100 delegates that addressing climate change is urgent, necessary and will require all technologies – including CCS – to be deployed at scale and at a much faster rate than is currently happening.

“Multiple independent and credible bodies have concluded that to achieve global climate change targets in the time frame required, all technologies are needed, and that CCS is the only likely solution for hard to decarbonise industries such as steel, cement and fertiliser manufacturing.

Mr Page highlighted the positive outcomes of a low emissions transition, and the opportunities CCS presents Australia’s communities, regions and the economy as a whole.

“The versatility of CCS to deliver deep emissions reductions across the power, industrial and transportation sectors, as well as presenting an enormous opportunity for the creation of a new low emissions economy, is a great strength of the technology.

“CCS leads to economic growth, it sustains communities and creates vital new jobs for regional areas. It also has a major role to play in the just transition for workers currently employed in the energy and industrial sector and preventing the early retirement of productive assets.

“There is no doubt Australia’s energy transition will be disruptive. However, it can also be a growth story. With an enabling policy framework and increased investment, we will achieve deep emissions reductions while enriching and preserving jobs and communities; including in fossil fuel resource regions”, said Mr Page.

Speakers at the Forum included representatives from the Australian and Victorian governments, UniSuper, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Santos, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, China Baowu Steel Group and the CO₂CRC.

Currently, there are forty-three (43) large-scale CCS facilities – 18 commercially, five under construction and 20 in various stages of development. Australia’s first CCS facility, Gorgon, is due to come onstream this year.

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Lucy Temple-Smith (Melbourne): +61 466 982 068 lucy.temple-smith@globalccsinstitute.com

The Global CCS Institute has launched a report analyzing California’s recently passed Carbon Capture and Storage Protocol (the Protocol). The report provides a summary of the regulation for project developers as well as policymakers in other states and countries, given its global applicability. While comparing it to other relevant regulations – including the federal carbon capture tax credit also known as 45Q – the report seeks to raise awareness for the opportunities created through the Protocol and to help project developers and policymakers understand the incentive structure and requirements alongside the environmental safeguards.

The Protocol, which was passed as an amendment to California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), incentivizes carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects that reduce the lifecycle emissions from bioethanol, hydrogen, and crude, provided the fuel is sold into the California market. The Protocol, in a pioneering move, also incentivizes direct air capture projects globally, provided they adhere to the regulation's standards. The Institute’s report comes on the heels of an announcement that Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and Carbon Engineering will begin engineering the world’s largest direct air capture plant which will also be designed to be eligible for both California’s CCS LCFS credits and US federal 45Q tax credits.

“The Global CCS Institute welcomes the amendment of the LCFS with a CCS Protocol. This relatively recent development demonstrates that governments are beginning to recognize that in light of ambitious climate goals, full decarbonization is close to impossible without large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage,” said Guloren Turan, General Manager, Advocacy and Communications, at the Global CCS Institute.

The Institute’s report reviews the Protocol which was passed in September 2018 with broad support from a diverse set of stakeholders including environmental and climate advocates, as well as industry, and went into effect in January 2019. The LCFS aims to reduce the carbon intensity of the State’s transport fuel mix by 20 per cent by 2030, relative to 2010 levels.

"Fighting climate change to keep global temperatures from increasing beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius requires immediate and unprecedented action. California pioneered the first Low Carbon Fuel Standard in 2007. With a Protocol for carbon capture and storage now in place, California will continue to drive down its emissions, accelerate investments in breakthrough technology, and create opportunities for a new kind of climate entrepreneur. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to spur innovation in clean energy development though carbon capture technology,” said Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA) about the regulation.

Currently trading at roughly $180 t/CO₂, the LCFS provides one of the highest values on carbon globally. For US-based projects it can also be stacked with a CCS-specific federal tax credit known as 45Q, which will ramp up to $50 t/CO₂ for geologic sequestration and $35 t/CO₂ for CO₂ stored via enhanced oil recovery, combining it to the highest CCS incentive globally.

“When California’s Carbon Capture and Storage Protocol took effect in January, it was a major step in ensuring that investment in CCS can be a viable tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s transportation sector,” said Deepika Nagabhushan, Program Director, Decarbonized Fossil Energy with Clean Air Task Force, a major US ENGO involved with advocating technological, regulatory and legislative pathways for addressing global climate change.

“The Institute’s report will help guide businesses to capitalize on the incentives at both the federal and state levels in the near term in developing CCS projects that have the effect of reducing California’s transportation CO₂ emissions,” said Ms. Nagabhushan.

The report provides a concise summary of the most important details of the regulation while also offering insight into the interaction of states and federal regulation. For example, it describes how to stack the credits, compares the LCFS and 45Q eligibility, and lays out the criteria projects need to fulfill to qualify for both incentives. It also details storage, MRV, and liability requirements offering a comprehensive yet accessible analysis of the regulation.

“The direct air capture provisions also highlight that climate change is a transnational problem warranting global solutions,” highlights Ms. Turan.

“California has set itself an ambitious and laudable goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045. To achieve this goal, the state will first have to double down on the carbon solutions that it has already championed, such as efficiency, renewable energy and clean vehicles. But it must also without a doubt aggressively pursue a broader suite of technologies and tools to curb its carbon emissions, and even remove them from the atmosphere. The latest changes to the LCFS regulation enabling CCS to participate in the program represent a visionary move on the state’s part, and a landmark in the quest to deploy such technologies more widely,” says George Peridas, Director, Carbon Management Partnerships, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The Global CCS Institute welcomes the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) report, which recommends that the UK commits to cutting its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero by 2050 and highlights the crucial role carbon capture and storage (CCS) needs to play to achieve this goal. The long-awaited CCC report says: “CCS is a necessity and not an option.”

The report recognises that reaching net-zero GHG emissions in the UK will require important contributions from CCS in industry, for hydrogen production, combined with bioenergy (e.g. for power generation) and in flexible fossil-fired power generation, with up to 75-175 MtCO₂ being captured and stored annually by 2050.

The CCC recommends that CO₂ infrastructure development should start as early as possible, with the first CCS cluster being operational by 2026 and four more following soon after, with at least one of these clusters producing substantial amounts of low-carbon hydrogen. As such, it identifies the development of relevant CO₂ infrastructure as an important policy priority.

Welcoming the report, Guloren Turan, General-Manager Advocacy and Communications at the Global CCS Institute said:

“This report is very timely and we hope that it will be an important impetus to government, industry and other stakeholders to accelerate their efforts to deploy CCS facilities and develop CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure. There are many promising CCS projects in the pipeline across the UK that can bring considerable value for communities and industry.”

There are currently 43 large-scale CCS facilities operating or under development around the world. In the UK, there are six CCS facilities in early development: Acorn CCS, Caledonia Clean Energy, HyNet North West, H21 North of England, Teesside Collective, and BECCS pilot plant at Drax Power Station. Several of these facilities also involve hydrogen production.

You can read the full report here.

The UK Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has released its final report which presents its recommendations and findings following its Inquiry on carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS).

The report highlights the importance and value of CCUS to the UK and its economy and urges the UK Government to consider the technology as an important tool for least-cost decarbonisation. The Committee highlighted that CCUS has the unique ability to significantly reduce industrial emissions, enable the production of clean hydrogen and help deliver the UK’s emission reduction targets. The report also recommends urgent and sustained action to help accelerate the deployment of CCUS in the UK by putting forward a series of recommendations to support forward-looking policy development on CCUS.

On the occasion of the launch of the report, the Institute’s General-Manager Advocacy, Guloren Turan said:

“We welcome the constructive recommendations of the BEIS Committee report on CCUS which we believe presents an opportunity to strengthen UK’s ambition towards CCUS both across government and industry to further support the deployment of the technology. We commend Minister Claire Perry’s leadership and commitment to deploying CCUS in the UK and her recognition of the huge opportunities it can bring for the country."

In its report, the BEIS Committee also highlights the early mover advantage to deploying CCUS and the role of government to de-risking investments and developing business models for capture, and transport and storage.

The report is the outcome of a public consultation and several public expert hearings held with industry, academia and civil society. The BEIS Committee - a cross-party group aimed at assessing the policy and administration of BEIS department - launched the CCUS inquiry in May 2018 to examine the UK Government’s ambition to deploy CCUS to meet its climate targets, as highlighted in the UK Government Clean Growth Strategy.  With this inquiry, the work of the BEIS Committee aimed to complement the work of the CCUS Cost Challenge Taskforce.

You can read the full report here.

The Institute also recently released a report “Policy priorities to accelerate large-scale deployment of CCS”.  Read the full report here.

The Global CCS Institute, an international think tank and a leading authority on carbon capture and storage (CCS), is launching today a report exploring how to stimulate investment in CCS. The new report identifies concrete policy actions to ensure CCS delivers on global climate targets.

The Institute’s report reviews the progress achieved until now, and identifies the policies and commercial conditions that enabled investment in the 18 large-scale CCS facilities currently in operation, and the additional five that are under construction. The report also identifies overarching barriers to CCS deployment including market and information failures, which recent projects had to overcome.

Based on an assessment of existing CCS projects, the Global CCS Institute found that several of these facilities have common features, most built with grant support and relying on revenue from enhanced oil recovery. Others, in particular those in the United States, relied on tax credits, or the regulation of carbon emissions, in the case of the Gorgon project in Australia.  The paper also highlights that the cost of CCS is closely linked to the number of CCS facilities in operation and that it will continue to fall as new projects come online due to economies of scale and learning by doing.

Despite some progress in the deployment of CCS, the current policy environment will not suffice to stimulate the scale-up of the technology to deliver the number of projects needed to meet the Paris targets.  The paper reveals a policy framework that will enable the scaling up of CCS deployment, one that must focus on de-risking investments, creating new business models around shared transport and storage networks and long-term storage liability management. To achieve this, governments will have an important role to play.

The report also found that debt financing will be an essential asset for future projects. To accelerate project development, banks will have to provide access to affordable debt financing to CCS project developers. The paper also examines the eventual progression from high cost debt financing to the mitigation of risks that will result in the reduction of the cost of debt for future CCS projects.

Finally, the report puts forward a set of key recommendations that will create an enabling policy environment to accelerate the deployment of CCS:

• Establish a value on carbon to create a financial incentive for investing in CCS
• For governments to play the critical role of enabling the development of shared transport and storage infrastructure by investing directly in infrastructure or by setting the regulatory framework within which networks can be developed cost effectively
• Implement a legal and regulatory framework that clarifies storage operators’ liabilities
• Provide capital support in the form of grants, accelerated depreciation, concessional loans, or other mechanisms to attract private capital to CCS investments in the early stages of deployment.
• Identify and consider additional policy interventions designed to reduce specific risks perceived by financiers and equity investors in order to bring down the cost of capital and enhance the financial viability of future CCS investments.

A webinar will be held on April 4^th to discuss the report findings. Two authors of the Institute’s report, Dominic Rassool, Senior Consultant Policy and Finance and Alex Townsend, Senior Consultant Economics both from the Global CCS Institute will present the findings. You can register to the webinar here.

You can download the full report here.

Antonios Papaspiropoulos (Melbourne) : +61 401 944 478 antonios.papaspiropoulos@globalccsinstitute.com

Annya Schneider (Brussels): +32 255 03972 annya.schneider@globalccsinstitute.com

Lucy Temple-Smith (Melbourne): +61 466 982 068 lucy.temple-smith@globalccsinstitute.com

Lee Beck (Washington DC): +1 202 677 9053 lee.beck@globalccsinstitute.com

About the Global CCS Institute:  The Global CCS Institute is an international think tank whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a vital technology to tackle climate change and provide energy security. Working with and on behalf of our Members, we drive the adoption of CCS as quickly and cost effectively as possible by sharing expertise, building capacity and providing advice and support so that this this vital technology can play its part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For more information, visit www.globalccsinstitute.com