Energy Ministers from around the world have agreed to proposals to help speed up the global deployment of carbon capture and storage. At a meeting in the United Arab Emirates, Ministers at the Clean Energy Ministerial endorsed recommendations from the Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) Action Group chaired by Australia and the UK.
The endorsed CCUS Action Group recommendations call on Energy Ministers to:
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Advance policies that address the financial gap and risks associated with early-mover carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects;
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Identify and advance appropriate funding mechanisms to support the demonstration of large-scale CCS projects in developing economies;
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Advance the development of legal and regulatory frameworks for CCS;
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Promote the importance to global CCS deployment of ratifying key international marine treaty amendments;
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Support and encourage the development of best practice knowledge-sharing from early mover projects, in particular those with public funding;
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Review key gaps in storage data coverage and knowledge including capacity assessment; and
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Recognize the potential of CCS for industrial emission sources and review demonstration opportunities.
The following governments agreed to continue or initiate action in support of one or more of these recommendations by the next Clean Energy Ministerial: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Republic of Korea, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom.
A number of actions have already been initiated in support of the CCUS Action Group’s recommendations. These include:
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The International Energy Agency (IEA), the Global CCS Institute (GCCSI) and the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) will develop a work plan to support the implementation of recommendations and establish a progress reporting schedule;
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The GCCSI agreed to coordinate work on identifying a funding mechanism to support CCS projects in developing countries and will work in partnership with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the CSLF and the World Resources Institute;
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The GCCSI released a report on how the uptake of CCS can be accelerated through the re-use of captured carbon dioxide from industrial sources; and
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The World Resources Institute released a report titled CCS Demonstrations in Developing Countries: Priorities for a Financing Mechanism for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage.