The reason why massive investment in carbon capture and geological storage (CCS) is vital to achieving deep cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide has been emphasised this week by the release of the 2018 IPCC Special Report on projected impacts of global warming of 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels.

Professor Peter J Cook from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for CCS Research & CO2CRC Ltd, said today that the IPCC special report marks out four illustrative global greenhouse gas emission pathways that limit global warming to 1.5 °C – utilising different mitigation strategies.

“All pathways use Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and negative emissions to differing degrees. And all of these require CCS which is a CDR pathway that enables very deep CO2 emissions reduction,” Dr Cook said.

“Global energy demand continues to grow and fossil fuel use has risen for 25 of the last 26 years[1], with more coal-fired power generation under construction in China, India and South-East Asia,” he said.

“The global energy mix is unlikely to shift easily or quickly from the fossil energy sources that currently dominate, given their huge scale. As recognised in the IPCC Report, a key clean technology enabler for all these measures and for limiting global warming to 1.5°C, is carbon capture and geological storage (CCS).

“The reality is that there cannot be a cost-effective mitigation response without CCS,” he said.

In Melbourne at the international GHGT 14 Conference to be held 21-25 October, 900 delegates from around the world, will discuss the latest developments in CCS technology and progress in large scale deployment of CCS.

The Conference will consider the vital role that CCS will play in decreasing emissions from fossil fuels, in developing the hydrogen economy and in enabling CDR whether using biofuels or direct air capture.

It will also address some of the policy measures that will be required to enable CCS to play its part in making deep cuts in emissions.

Dr Cook said large scale deployment of CCS is critical if the world is to meet the IPCC 1.5°C target and GHGT-14 will be the most important meeting this year to consider how this might be done – at scale, cost effectively and in a way that is reflective of today’s  and future global energy realities.

IPCC Vice Chair, Thelma Krug, will be speaking on the findings of the IPCC report at next week’s conference.

As well as the IPCC, GHGT-14 has attracted globally recognised speakers, including from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the World Bank, BHP, Japan’s Ministry of Environment, Total S.A., NET Power and the United States Department of Energy.

[1] Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (GCCSI), The Global Status of CCS: 2017, p. 19

For further information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:

David Byers CEO, CO2CRC +61 3 8595 9600
Prof Peter Cook, Centre for CCS Research & CO2CRC +61 419 490 044
John Field Field, Public Relations +61 418 819 527