26 April 2012: The IEA and Global CCS Institute presented a report at the third Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM3) that tracks progress made on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) against recommendations made in 2011.

The report focuses on key questions of how energy ministers can continue to drive progress to enable to fully contribute to climate change mitigation, highlighting that CCS deployment will not happen without additional demonstration funding and policy incentives for deployment beyond demonstration, including strong and credible emission reduction policies. It notes that great strides are being made in regulating CCS, but that committed governments must continue these efforts to ensure a lack of regulation does not necessarily impede or slow deployment. The report also highlights that governments should accelerate efforts to raise awareness on the need to make progress towards ratification of the 2009 London Protocol amendments.

The report also indicates that better understandings of the distribution and magnitude of economically available carbon dioxide storage capacity, and not theoretical storage resources, is required. It notes that non-OECD regions will need to capture cumulatively more co2 than the OECD from 2015-2050 to ensure global warming remains under two degrees Celsius, and that significant funding assistance will be necessary to achieve this level of deployment. The report recommends that energy ministers work with their respective governments to drive progress in funding and knowledge sharing for CCS projects developing countries to accelerate deployment.

The report closes by noting that, despite positive developments in some areas, significant progress has yet to be made, and that financing and industrial applications represent particularly serious challenges. [Publication: Tracking Progress in CCS Deployment]