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The recent report of the UN Panel of Intergovernmental Experts on Climate Change has sharply reiterated the need to take action to combat climate change.
Under the impetus of favorable government policies and technological improvements, some clean energy technologies are progressing: solar photovoltaic has seen spectacular growth in recent years and offshore wind energy prices in the United States. United Kingdom and elsewhere fell by 50%.
The latest data from the International Energy Agency also show that, in the run-up to climate change negotiations at COP24, global carbon emissions are expected to reach a new record high in 2018. This highlights the challenge the world faces in moving to a low-carbon strategy. economy and the ambitions agreed in Paris in 2015.
There is an international consensus that the use and storage of carbon capture, or CCUS, is necessary if we are to achieve these ambitions, as we look at ways to achieve net net emissions in the future. second half of the century.
Although CCUS has been shown to work, the world has not figured out how to deploy it commercially while ensuring that consumers do not pay for it. It is a complex task but more and more urgent.
According to the IEA, progress on CCUS remains unresolved in relation to agreed global climate and energy goals.
Current CCUS plants represent less than 4% of what is needed by 2030 to be consistent with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
This striking figure shows the magnitude of the challenge we face if we want to respond to global action to combat climate change.
The CCUS has economy-wide qualities that can lead to clean industrial growth and pave the way for net zero, a key element of the UK's modern industrial strategy. CUSP can be a key solution for reducing global emissions while stimulating jobs and growth and reusing existing infrastructure.
The CCUS is one of the few options available to significantly reduce emissions from power plants, thermal power plants and heavy carbon industries such as cement, chemicals, steel and petroleum refining, industries energy-intensive, producing about 24% of global carbon emissions. .
Here in Europe, most coal-fired power plants are approaching retirement age and the UK is showing the way forward to phase out the use of coal. However, in many parts of Asia, the charcoal fleet is young – its average age is only 11 years – and could continue to operate for decades.
Of course, we must follow a prevention strategy and continue to build a sustainable energy infrastructure whenever possible. But we must also seek a cure for these existing assets if we want to change course on carbon emissions. CUSP can provide that.
In addition to allowing substantial reductions in emissions, the CUSC can enable new clean energy pathways, including low-carbon hydrogen production, and support the sustainability of some vital industries.
The potential of CCUS to support a low-carbon economy and future industrial competitiveness is one of the main reasons for UK technology leadership in this area.
As the British government crosses the one – year milestone of its modern industrial strategy, the economic plan of our economy after Brexit, it will publish today a CCUS plan of action, developing the UK's first CCUS site to be commercially operational by the middle of the month. 2020s.
We have decades of experience with CCUS around the world and there is no longer a major technological hurdle to deployment. Some will raise the recent difficulties related to the development of CCUS projects in the UK and elsewhere, but the private sector has changed radically in interest and the UK government has continued to invest in improving technology , in particular by increasing industrial uses of CO2, supporting new technologies and identifying where we can store CO2 in our abundant storage sites in the UK.
Today's challenge is to accelerate cost reductions, identify effective business models and policy frameworks at the global level, and build the partnerships necessary for investment.
The UK wants to take up the challenge of carbon capture and works closely with other countries, from Norway to the United States.
The IEA is also expanding its analysis and outreach to help create new momentum behind this vital technology with governments and industry around the world. But these partnerships should only be the beginning of something much bigger.
We need new solutions to advance the CUSC program. Meeting these challenges and accelerating the deployment of the CUS will require a truly global effort involving governments, industry and the investment community.
We want the Edinburgh Summit to mark the beginning of a new era for the CUS. It is essential that governments and industry work together to make this innovative technology commercially meaningful.
Claire Perry is Britain's state minister for clean energy and growth and Fatih Birol is the executive director of the International Energy Agency. They lead an international summit on the CUS in Edinburgh on Wednesday
The Commodities Note is a regular online commentary published by the Financial Times.
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