In Lima, Peru at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP) 20 last week, GCCC’s Vanessa Nunez-Lopez and Katherine Romanak built on CCS momentum by hosting an information booth and an official side event with IEAGHG titled “New large-scale carbon capture and storage projects operating in the Americas.”
The event showed the viability of CCS as a mitigation tool. Projects in various modes of deployment were highlighted including a summary of USA projects (emphasizing the role of the GCCC), the start of the Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Petrobras’ strategies for using CCS to manage the CO2 co-produced with Pre-salt hydrocarbons.
GCCC also presented information about an initiative for a global collaboration on an offshore demonstration project spearheaded by both the GCCC and the U.S. Department of Energy through the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. IEAGHG summarized the significance of these projects in light of the anticipated climate agreement to be negotiated in Paris in 2015.
The GCCC/IEAGHG-hosted event was well-attended and well received. One Washington DC-based attendee summarized the impact of the discussions, “I didn’t believe CCS could work but now I see that it can, because you are actually doing it.”
Presentations given at the side event can be viewed here:
New Large-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Projects Operating in the Americas
SaskPower CCS Conference of the Parties
Petrobras’ Offshore CO2 Management – Pre-salt development management
USA large scale onshore projects/Global offshore demonstration project
GCCC’s first technical input to the UNFCCC was in 2011 when we presented research on groundwater protection and monitoring at both a UNFCCC workshop held in Abu Dhabi, UAE and at a side event at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa. Both events were designed to inform policy-makers about the latest CCS research relevant to negotiations on whether CCS should be included in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for developing countries. GCCC technical input contributed to inclusion of CCS in the CDM which has set the stage for CCS to be recognized in other UNFCCC mechanisms including the finance mechanism of the Green Climate Fund, which recently reached a total of $10 billion in pledges.
