London Climate Experts Hear that CCS is an Important Part of a Low Carbon Strategy, in New UCL Report
LONDON, Oct. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- London: Embargoed to 6.00pm (GMT), Monday 23 October 2017:
International climate luminaries meeting in London have heard that CCS should be seen as an important component of a portfolio of mitigation technologies for meeting climate change targets.
Speaking at the launch of the University College London (UCL) authored report: "The role of CCS in meeting climate policy targets", at London's Royal Society, a group of pre-eminent speakers including UK Committee on Climate Change Chairman, Lord Deben, Shell Chief Climate Change Adviser, David Hone, and Global CCS Institute CEO, Brad Page, reiterated the need for CCS to be part of a portfolio of climate mitigation options which need to be combined to achieve Paris climate change targets.
"CCS must be considered part of any strategy to limit temperatures to 2 degrees or less," said Page, who leads the world authority on CCS.
"A body of evidence by expert climate change bodies including the IPCC and IEA supports the view that CCS must be part of a portfolio of climate change mitigation technologies. It is particularly crucial as a clean mitigation technology which can decarbonise industry, including the steel, cement, fertilizer and petrochemical sectors."
Report co-author, Professor Paul Ekins said UCL's report found that pursuing CCS requires a whole-chain, innovation systems approach, including coordination of actors and infrastructure, and attention to legislative and regulatory frameworks.
"Of course, there will be a need for technology 'push' policies such as support for research and development, and market 'pull' policies such as price support and carbon taxes.
"However, it's also important to recall that comparable large-scale technological systems and infrastructures have historically benefitted from some kind of whole-chain coordination and support, with governments playing key enabling roles. We do not believe that CCS will succeed without similar whole-chain coordination and support."
UCL co-author, Dr Nick Hughes said report findings indicated that the non-availability of CCS appears to make climate mitigation scenarios "at best much higher cost, and at worst infeasible".
"Thus, we find that not having CCS available will pose a significant risk to the achievability of the Paris targets. We find this is a convincing reason for putting in place clear and long-term measures to support the development of CCS systems."
Panellist and IEA analyst, Samantha McCulloch, said CCS technologies offer a solution to some of the most vexing climate challenges the world faces, and the need to apply it more comprehensively is critical and urgent.
"Latest IEA analysis confirms that CCS would contribute 14 per cent of the CO2 emissions reductions needed in a 2-degree scenario. The case for CCS is compelling but an urgent boost in investment will be needed to secure these future emissions reductions."
Panellist and Distinguished Associate of the Energy Futures Initiative, Dr Julio Friedmann, said that if people really care about climate change, they should care about CCS.
"We need urgency in climate action - the climate math demands it. CCS is a proven and pragmatic technology to rein in greenhouse gas emissions - emissions that continue to grow. It's affordable, flexible and the economics add up. Now we need the policy impetus to create a thriving market."
The launch event, hosted by the Global CCS Institute, and moderated by BBC environmental analyst, Roger Harrabin, was attended by more than 100 representatives spanning government, industry, academia, and environmental NGOs.
There are currently 17 large-scale CCS facilities in operation around the world, with four more coming on stream within the next 12-18 months. The full report is available on the Global CCS Institute's website: globalccsinstitute.com
For media enquiries, contact:
Antonios Papaspiropoulos: +61 401 944 478, Antonios.Papaspiropoulos@globalccsinstitute.com
Annya Schneider: +61 422 729 554, annya.schneider@globalccsinstitute.com
About the Global CCS Institute: The Global CCS Institute is an international membership organisation. Our 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.
Our diverse international membership consists of governments, global corporations, small companies, research bodies and nongovernment organisations, committed to CCS as an integral part of a low-carbon future. We are headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with regional offices in Washington DC, Brussels, Beijing and Tokyo. For more information, visit: www.globalccsinstitute.com
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