February 2010: The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a summary of the “10th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Control Technologies: From research to reality,” which took place from 19-23 September 2010, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The conference focused on issues that stand between the research and development, pilot projects, early demonstration phases, large-scale demonstration and commercial deployment of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies. The summary highlights main points of the two opening addresses and 11 keynote speakers, which focused significantly on improving public perceptions of CCS, the heavy governmental investment needed to get the industry off the ground, as well as the significant amount of time still needed, up to a decade, to realize commercially viable CCS. The report also outlines key messages from the conferences’ technical sessions, which underscored that carbon capture technologies are far more developed than carbon storage technologies at the moment, although this gap is narrowing. It closes by looking at issues for the future, with a focus on the required public relations work. [Publication: GHGT-10 Conference Summary]