The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the U.K. government will cooperate on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) to reach international climate goals, the IEA President said in a statement on Wednesday.
Without such cooperation on CCUS, these climate goals will be practically impossible to achieve, Fatih Birol said.
The IEA estimates that over 450 metric tons (Mt) of CO2 emissions could be captured for use or storage each year with an incentive equivalent to less than $40 per ton of CO2.
The International CCUS summit, co-chaired by Claire Perry, U.K. minister of state for clean energy and growth and Birol signals the start of a new era for CCUS.
CCUS is a technology that is critical to meeting climate goals and can also strengthen energy security and boost economic growth.
However, the IEA said that CCUS has been a little-used tool in the energy toolbox and declared that no other technology solution can significantly reduce emissions from a large and relatively young fleet of coal power generation.
'There is also no other cost-effective technology solution capable of delivering the deep emissions reductions needed across key industrial processes such as steel, cement and chemicals manufacturing, oil and gas production all of which will remain vital building blocks of modern society,' the IEA said.
Birol said that up until now progress has been muted and warned that if such slow progress continues, the challenges people face in the energy sector would become infinitely greater.
The existing energy infrastructure – including power plants, industrial facilities and buildings – will emit a total of 550 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 emissions, which are essentially locked-in over the period to 2040, according to the IEA.
'That is why the IEA is bringing together industry, governments and our own technology network – as well as the investment community – to make CCUS a reality,' he affirmed.
During the summit, the IEA argued the case that renewables, energy efficiency strategies along with a broad range of clean energy technologies including carbon capture, all deployed at scale, would meet climate goals.
The Summit is held just days before the start of the COP24 climate negotiations in Poland.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr