U.K., CHINESE GROUPS SIGN CCUS RD&D AGREEMENT

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
9/27/13

Two U.K.-based research organizations signed a memorandum of understanding with two Chinese counterparts late this week aimed at paving the way for carbon capture, utilization and storage-related RD&D work. The U.K. Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre and Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage signed a 10-year MOU with the R&D group Guangdong Low-Carbon Technology and Industry Research Centre and the joint venture the Clean Fossil Energy Development Institute at a ceremony in London Sept. 27. The four groups said they were establishing a CCUS network to promote joint R&D work and provide advice on the technology to local and regional governments. “The partners plan to move rapidly towards demonstration of CCUS technologies in China, potentially within three to five years,” the groups said in a joint release.

The MOU’s signatories said they also agreed to advise and support the Guangdong International CCUS Industry and Academic Collaboration Promotion Network, which aims to promote CCUS research collaboration and deployment in the populous province on China’s southeast coast. “Preparation for CCS is now in China’s Five Year Plan, so Guangdong is preparing to surpass all European efforts with one leap. This strategic and timely agreement will unite researchers from Scotland, the U.K. and China in the shared ambition of making swift and practical progress on CCS technologies,” SCCS Director Stuart Haszeldine said in a statement. “This MOU enables U.K. researchers and Chinese industry to exchange staff and expertise, so that decisions can be made in mid-2014 to commence construction.”

Also on hand at the signing ceremony were U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker and Governor Zhu Xiaodan of China’s Guangdong Province, who signed a parallel statement pledging to “deepen collaboration” on low carbon technology development, including CCS. “The Coalition [government] is determined to broaden and deepen our relationship with China, especially in relation to combating dangerous climate change and realizing the huge commercial opportunities in the fast growing low carbon goods and services sector. International partnership is essential to both,” Barker said in a statement.

China Boosts CCS-Related Work

China has notably ramped up its CCS-related activities over the last several years. The country’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the government ministry that spearheads most national planning, underscored the need to promote CCUS technology in a policy statement published in May. The document reflects language used in the Chinese government’s most recent Five-Year Plan, which set a goal of reducing carbon intensity by 17 percent and flagged CCUS as a priority technology for further development. Since then, the country has more than doubled its planned CCUS projects to 11, according to the Global CCS Institute.

The Chinese government also began gradually rolling out cap-and-trade pilot programs in several of its major provinces and cities this year. State media also reported earlier this month that the China’s cabinet recently issued an order banning the construction of new coal plants in the industrial regions surrounding the three eastern metropolises of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou—areas that cumulatively house nearly one-third of the country’s coal capacity—to the praise of environmental groups.