New report launched on the progress of CCS worldwide

On 5 November, the Global CCS Institute launched a report in Abu Dhabi entitled ‘Global Status of CCS: 2014’. According to the report, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is ‘now on the cusp of widespread deployment’, with 22 projects currently under construction or in operation, up 50% since 2011. “With eight major CCS projects anticipated to go live in a range of industries worldwide by 2016, this low-carbon technology is reaching the critical mass necessary for widespread deployment,” said Brad Page, CEO of the Global CCS Institute.

The report examines the progress made on CCS over the last year and offers recommendations for decision makers.

Key findings

• There are 22 large-scale CCS projects in operation or construction around the world, with the capacity to capture up to 40 million tpa of CO₂, equivalent to taking 8 million cars off the road.
• There are another 14 large-scale CCS projects in advanced planning stages, including 9 in the power sector, many of which are anticipated to take a final investment decision during the next year.
• The US, Canada and China lead the world in the development and deployment of CCS projects. These countries are not only major sources of CO₂, but also have a vast potential to store CO₂.
• The data revealed two areas requiring more attention from policy makers: the lack of CCS projects in non-OECD economies (outside of China) and the lack of progress in CCS technology development in high carbon-intensive industries such as iron and steel and cement.
• CCS projects in the UK are progressing with both the Peterhead CCS Project and the White Rose CCS Project receiving funding to begin advanced engineering studies, while its policy makers are developing mechanisms to support CCS in the power and industrial sectors.
• The world’s first large-scale CCS project in the power sector went live at Boundary Dam in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada on 2 October 2014.
• The Abu Dhabi CCS Project in the UAE (expected to come online in 2016) will be the world’s first large-scale CCS project in the iron and steel sector.
• The next two large-scale CCS projects in the power sector are planned to come online in the US: Southern Company’s Kemper County Energy Facility in Mississippi (2016), and the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project in Texas (2016).

Moving forward

Mr Page notes that financial and policy support must be in place in order for projects currently in the planning stage to be realised by 2020, warning that widespread utilisation of CCS technology would not occur unless there is policy parity with other clean technologies.

“We simply can’t have an effective response to tackling climate change without CCS. Decisions and actions are required now to lay policy, legal and infrastructure foundations for wide-scale deployment post 2020,” added Mr Page, who is calling for “a year of action” on policy and deployment for CCS. “Now is the time for decision makers to take stock of what has been achieved and build on these solid foundations so that CCS can make major contributions to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

“We need to be clear that CCS is the only technology that can achieve large reductions in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from industries such as iron and steel, chemicals and cement, which together emit 20% of the world’s CO₂. In fact, it is just as important to use CCS on industrial processes as in the electricity sector, which is currently the world’s largest CO₂ emitter, accounting for up to 40% of emissions,” concluded Mr Page.

The ‘Global Status of CCS: 2014’ report can be found here.

Adapted from press release by Louise Fordham

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/africa-middle-east/06112014/global-ccs-institute-releases-new-report-807/