For the last several years, the United States has undertaken a deliberate and focused policy effort to advance decarbonization. While the nature of the focus shifts from industrial emissions to the power sector, the overall objective of commercial deployment of CCUS is inherent in the federal approach. In 2019, the US National Petroleum Council (NPC) published an integrated CCUS study which provided robust recommendations for policy, regulatory, legal, and social considerations to address the “Dual Challenge” of balancing energy demands with environmental considerations. 

Those recommendations combined with shifting national objectives has resulted in congressional and executive support combined with increased corporate interest in decarbonization. Many of these policies are now part of the national landscape for CCUS. In fact, an unprecedented financial investment is being made through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 45Q tax credit and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Regulatory policies are under consideration for permitting reform and two White House Council of Environmental Quality Taskforces have been established: for non-federal lands and for federal lands/outer continental shelf through the USE IT Act. 

Social policies are driving equity and environmental justice adjustments through President Biden’s Executive Order 14008 establishing the Justice40 initiative, which seeks to ensure that 40 percent of federal funding in certain areas goes to benefits in disadvantaged communities. This keynote will examine the underlying factors, intricacies, efficacy, and recent advancements in CCUS connected with this robust policy environment. 

 

Since 2017, CCS has scaled up significantly, and the project pipeline has reached an unprecedented capacity in 2023. It is expected that this trend will continue, as more countries are introducing CCS into their decarbonisation efforts. The diversity of industries to which CCS is being applied has increased significantly over the past several years, demonstrating a growing recognition of its role in supporting net-zero ambitions.

The last 12 months have seen a significant increase in equity financing and interest in project finance for CCS projects. Many businesses seeking to profit from the provision of CCS services, especially in the transport and/or storage of CO2, are now emerging on the back of expectations of enormous future demand and more stringent climate policy. International CCS value chains are being developed, with the first transboundary movement of CO2 by ship for geological storage having been completed between Belgium and Denmark in 2023.

CCS is also becoming a more prominent feature of public policy, from inclusion in a growing number of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through to the provision of targeted policy to drive deployment and the drafting of appropriate regulations.

These are all encouraging indicators of positive progress. However, authoritative analysis by the International Energy Agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and others consistently indicates that achieving global climate targets will require annual CO2 storage rates of approximately 1 Gtpa by 2030, growing to around 10 Gtpa by 2050.

Analysis from the Institute and other organisations demonstrate that whilst there are credible pathways for scaling up CCS deployment to keep the world on track for the goals of the Paris Agreement, this will require a monumental policy effort. Continued growth of the facility development pipeline and ensuring projects in development proceed to final investment decision, construction and operation will be imperative to achieve these goals.

There have been significant changes to relevant policy across the globe in the last few years that have clearly demonstrated the potential of CCS project development to accelerate. For example: The impact of these recent developments is expected to be a sustained increase in the number of CCS projects in development, and a greater proportion of them successfully progressing to construction over the next decade.

The successful deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) is integral to achieving the Republic of Korea’s (hereinafter “Korea”) climate commitments outlined in its 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and 2050 Carbon Neutrality Scenarios. Korea is actively advancing CCUS technology through initiatives such as integrated CCS demonstrations, legislative measures to overcome barriers, and transboundary CCS.

This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) developments in the Republic of Korea (hereinafter “Korea”). The presentation covers: CCUS in Korea’s 2050 carbon neutrality scenario and 2030 NDC, Korea’s CCS demonstration program at the Donghae gas field, the status of CCUS legislation, the importance of transboundary CCUS, and Korea’s international cooperation efforts with Australia. 

As a major producer and significant consumer of fossil fuel, the GCC region has some of the most intensive emitters per capita in the world, and accounts for a tenth of the world’s gas reserves. On the fiscal side, GCC remains economically dependent on hydrocarbons despite the recent progress on diversification. The region has however excellent conditions for CCS/CCUS: well-understood subsurface, concentrations of heavily emitting industries in close proximity to huge reservoirs in offshore shallow waters or onshore in sparsely populated deserts. The long history of the hydrocarbons industry and financial backing of the NOCs also favours the potential development of CCS/CCUS.

While CO₂ emissions from the GCC account for 3% of global emissions, the region has been a quick adopter of decarbonization technologies such as CCS and CCUS with a current capacity of around 4.7 mtpa and plans to reach 60 mtpa by 2030. In the short to medium term, GCC countries have the technical potential to capture 10 mtpa of CO₂ by 2028 of which 50% for enhanced oil recovery or geological storage, and the remaining as feedstock for various industrial processes. This presents an opportunity for the region to reduce its energy and industrial emissions, which account for 60% of the region’s total emissions.

On the policy side, there are a few challenges. MENA countries do not have a carbon pricing mechanisms and fossil fuel subsidies across GCC countries disincentivise CCUS uptake. It is true that most countries in the MENA region have introduced climate policies, but not CCUS specific policies. They do not have a regulation on CO₂ specification and lack of transparency and statistical figures on carbon emissions.

GCC also lacks specific regulations for private sector access to national oil company-owned (NOCs) pipelines and infrastructure. However, in some cases, such as with Saudi Aramco and ADNOC, third-party access rights or capacity expansion may be granted on a contractual basis. 

The nascent CCUS regulatory landscape creates an opportunity for companies and governments to pioneer cross-border CCUS policy cooperation, including establishing carbon pricing and/or trading schemes, carbon credits for CO₂ sequestration, and other incentives.