EC, World Leaders Explore Commercialization of Carbon Sequestration

October 13, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS

Carbon capture and storage is a technology that reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by capturing CO2 from large emitters (such as coal or gas power plants and the steel industry) and storing it underground.

CSLF is an international climate change initiative focused on the development of improved, cost-effective technologies for the separation and capture of CO2, its transport and long-term safe storage.

At the Oct. 13 meeting, CSLF adopted a ministerial declaration elaborating on project support, knowledge sharing, capacity building and other priorities of the CSLF. The actions of the forum will be integrated into the global energy and climate agenda, including the process towards the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change.

The European Union (EU) has developed a comprehensive package of legal, financial and industrial support elements, designed in successive initiatives approved since December 2007 by the European Council, including:

• The directive on CCS provided for a framework that helps to ensure public confidence in CCS installations and gives legal certainty to operators.
• The treatment of CCS in environmental state aid guidelines and emissions has been clarified in the context of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
• The financing of demonstration projects is being supported by €1.05 billion from the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP). Evaluation of project proposals under this instrument is already underway.
• 300 million allowances under the ETS form a second source of funding for projects. These allowances will have a monetary value based on the cost of carbon; they can therefore be auctioned by EU member states on the EU-wide carbon market.

On the industrial side, the EC has prepared for a project network of European early-movers involved in large-scale CCS demonstration projects. The European Industrial Initiative on CCS completes the picture, with an aim to mobilizing development and deployment of technologies like CCS to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from Europe's power generation.

The EC maintains that bringing down the costs of the new technologies will enable CCS to exploit its full emissions abatement potential and allow it to contribute to sustainable, secure and competitive energy.

"Public authorities must continue to support promoting the development and deployment of CCS technologies if we want to be successful in fighting climate change. However, it is also time for significant private sector investments in order to commercialize demonstration projects and bring CCS technologies to the level of economic feasibility," said EC Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

Source: European Commission (EC).