Global CCS Institute Submits Response to World Bank Energy consultation
30 June 2010
The Global CCS Institute has submitted a response to the World Bank Energy Strategy consultation.
In its submission, the GCCSI highlights the valuable role that the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) could play in meeting these objectives and encourages the World Bank Group to place a broader emphasis on CCS in its Energy Strategy.
Below is a copy of the Executive Summary. The full submission can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.
GCCSI World Bank Group Submission
The World Bank Group has released an Energy Strategy Approach Paper which will guide its approach to assist developing countries achieve the twin objectives of:
- improving access and reliability of energy supply; and
- facilitating the shift to a more environmentally sustainable energy development path.
The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (the Institute) strongly supports these objectives.
In this submission, the Institute seeks to highlight the valuable role that the commercial deployment of CCS could play in meeting these objectives and to encourage the World Bank Group to place a broader emphasis on CCS in its Energy Strategy.
Coal- and gas-fired power generation are forecast to continue to be the main source of base-load power into the foreseeable future for many developing countries if they are to achieve access to, and reliability of, energy supply. CCS is the most promising technology to achieve near-zero greenhouse gas emissions from these fuels. The broad deployment of CCS is expected to play a key role in facilitating the transition to a low-carbon, more environmentally sustainable future and will therefore contribute to the World Bank Group's twin objectives over the longer term.
In order to achieve the emissions reductions expected from broadly deployed, fully integrated CCS, CCS projects must first be demonstrated at commercial scale. Demonstrating CCS technology in developing countries is critical to the subsequent commercial deployment in those countries and therefore to facilitating the shift to a more environmentally sustainable energy path.
CCS roll-out in developing countries is contingent on overcoming significant funding, legal and regulatory barriers. The World Bank Group could play an important role in supporting the early stage deployment of CCS in developing countries, and in building capacity for future deployment.
The Institute looks forward to further collaborating with the World Bank Group on these issues through activities undertaken in the World Bank's CCS Trust Fund. This Fund, jointly established by the Institute and the Government of Norway, provides an important, initial first step to exploring the potential for CCS in developing countries.
As an outcome of this submission the Institute hopes that the World Bank Group, in its Energy Strategy, will:
- Acknowledge the fundamental role of CCS in meeting the twin goals of reliable energy supply and facilitating a shift to environmentally sustainable energy by placing a broader emphasis on CCS in its Energy Strategy;
- Include CCS technology and supporting measures as considerations when it chooses whether to engage in coal- fired power generation; and
- Consider its potential role in capacity building and facilitating funding for CCS demonstration projects in developing countries.
Note
The World Coal Institute is a member of the Global CCS Institute.
