Actively using carbon capture and storage (CSS) is a critical plank in building the low carbon economies of the future, according to a recent report released by the Global CCS Institute.

 

The report concluded that as much as US$3 trillion could be saved if the technology is taken up as a global measure to combat climate change.

 

In the report, the Global CCS Institute has estimated that carbon abatement from eight CCS projects already operating is greater than that achieved by all other energy-related climate efforts combined to date in Australia or the UK.

 

In Calgary today to launch Global Status of CCS: 2012, Institute CEO Brad Page highlighted four key issues needing to be addressed to accelerate CCS deployment:

  • the need for a stronger commitment to CCS by governments, in the form of timely and stable policy support to deal with barriers to implementation, drive industry confidence, encourage innovation and, ultimately, reduce capital and operating costs
  • that it is critical the technology is not disadvantaged; CCS is often not treated equivalently to other low-carbon technologies in government policy settings and support even though it is a cost-competitive technology
  • a need to accelerate government and industry investment into demonstration projects to develop technology and bring down costs
  • the importance of capturing and sharing lessons learnt from all CCS projects, particularly with non-OECD countries, where 70 per cent of CCS deployment will need to occur by 2050.

 

“CCS projects are on track to achieve 70 per cent of the International Energy Agency’s* [IEA] target mitigation activities for CCS by 2015,” Mr Page said, “but beyond that, it is clear that a very substantial increase in new projects will be required to meet the 2050 target.

 

“The number of operational projects would need to increase to about 130 by 2020, but this seems unlikely, with Institute projections indicating that only 51 of the remaining 59 projects identified in our annual survey may be operational by then.”

 

The Global Status of CCS: 2012 report and other related resources are available to download fromhttp://www.globalccsinstitute.com/get-involved/in-focus/2012/10/global-status-ccs-2012