C2ES and RITE Host Roundtable on Strengthening International Collaboration on Carbon Capture

February 13, 2019

WASHINGTON—Representatives of more than 40 organizations from 11 countries, including governments, companies, and NGOs will meet in Washington today to discuss opportunities at the upcoming G20 Summit in Japan to strengthen international collaboration on carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS).

The roundtable is being organized by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) with support from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).

Participants include representatives of national governments, multilateral development banks, leading energy and finance companies, influential think tanks, and other NGOs from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Japanese Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akimasa Ishikawa, who will deliver a keynote address at the roundtable.

Participants will discuss policy, finance and technology issues, including lessons learned from existing collaborative efforts and carbon capture’s role in long-term energy and climate strategies. They also will consider options for strengthening international collaboration at the G20 Summit, taking place June 28-29, 2019 in Osaka. A report by C2ES summarizing recommendations will be presented to METI in March.

“Strong bipartisan support has helped make the U.S. a global leader on carbon capture technologies, which are vital to meeting long-term climate goals,” said C2ES President Bob Perciasepe. “We encourage governments around the world to work together to build on our early successes and accelerate innovation and deployment.”

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees underscores the urgency of global CCUS deployment,” said RITE Senior Managing Director Takashi Honjo. “It is important for us to accelerate the deployment of existing CCUS technologies and also to continue R&D efforts on next-generation CCUS technologies to further reduce costs and risks.”

CCUS technologies can be deployed at coal- and gas-fired power plants and at industrial facilities like in steel and cement production, natural gas processing, and refining. CCUS includes many technologies, including capture of manmade carbon from the atmosphere and the conversion of captured carbon into useful products and fuels. There are currently 18 large-scale CCUS projects operating around the world.

For more information, or to reach experts, contact C2ES Communications Director Alec Gerlach at GerlachA@c2es.org.