Breaking the deadlock – getting carbon capture and storage technologies to market

A Science|Business Academic Policy Symposium

The European Union is betting big on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies as part of its strategic energy roadmap to 2020. Ten to 12 demonstration projects are envisioned under the EU’s Strategic Energy Technologies (SET Plan), requiring an investment of up to €16 billion. But lack of funds and a comprehensive planning framework have stalled the projects. Europe now risks missing its target of making these technologies commercially viable by 2020.

What policy measures would give industry the confidence to invest in these costly demonstration projects and help Europe regain its lost momentum? What lessons can be drawn from the innovation policy approach to CCS in the US and China, which are outpacing Europe in this crucial field? And what kind of research results will help assure a skeptical European public that carbon capture and storage is a safe enough bet?

Featured Guests

• Ernest J. Moniz, Professor of Physics and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Edit Herczog, MEP, European Parliament
• David Eyton, Head of Research and Technology, BP

This high-level roundtable discussion will focus on the research needed to tackle a range of technology issues, particularly around CO2 storage offshore and safety monitoring, as well as the path to developing an overarching commercial framework for CCS to encourage private investment.

This is the fourth in a series of Brussels events on various aspects of energy R&D policy organized by Science|Business with the support of BP. A report of the conclusions will be published, as a contribution to the policy debate in Europe over this vital set of technologies for a sustainable energy future.