Exclusive: KickStarter CCUS initiative launches

Beginning its journey into decarbonisation in the US, UK, Norway, the Netherlands and China, the initiative aims to enable a commercially viable CCUS industry which is large enough to contribute to the Paris climate goals. 

OGCI launches new CCUS initiative

In order to find out more about the new initiative and what it means for the CCUS industry, gasworld spoke exclusively to Sue-Ern Tan, OGCI Executive Committee CCUS Champion.

“The ultimate aim of the KickStarter is to create the necessary conditions to facilitate a commercially viable, safe and environmentally responsible CCUS industry.”

“We decided to focus on a few drivers: economies of scale, global reach, collaboration on the ground and unlocking investment by our member companies, governments, OGCI Climate Investments and other independent investors,” Tan explains.

With the implementation of CCUS technologies on the rise, CCUS is now poised as an almost essential part of a broad package of climate solutions needed to reach net zero, particularly for industrial sectors.

CCUS hubs

In order to achieve its aims, KickStarter is joining forces with national and regional authorities, along with other industrial emitters and a variety of organisations.

The initiative will work with partners in government, industry and local communities to accelerate industrial carbonisation through a ‘hub concept’ to reduce costs by leveraging shared infrastructure and learnings. 

By starting with hubs that are already trying to get off the ground, KickStarter can help to scale up cooperation that is already in place whilst looking for new opportunities in its countries of interest.

“We decided to start by prioritising five emerging CCUS hubs where we can build on existing work and scale towards our early ambition of doubling the amount of carbon dioxide that is currently stored globally.”

“The teams of OGCI member companies that are working on these hubs are already collaborating with governments and across industry to scale up future storage potential and create new hubs.”

“In the US we are identifying hubs in Louisiana, Texas and elsewhere, whilst working to build coalitions of support around them.”

“In parallel, we have a team that is working globally to identify potential new CCUS hubs, with high concentrations of carbon dioxide and the potential for storage. Once we see significant potential, we set up a team to work with others on the ground to develop it further.”

Working on the existing hubs and also looking to develop new CCUS hubs all contributes to achieving the Paris Climate Goals set in 2015 which aim to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and perusing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

According to the International Energy Agency, in order to meet the Paris Climate Goals approximately 25 times more carbon dioxide must be captured and stored annually by 2030 than today. After 2030, most scenarios require CCUS to grow exponentially.

“One big challenge everywhere is the lack of policies and regulations that can underpin business models for what are multi-year, multi-billion-dollar investments.”

Speaking to Tan, gasworld asked why she thinks there has been a significant amount of investment in CCUS in the US. “In the US, the extension of enhanced 45Q tax credits in 2018 – $50 per tonne for carbon captured and stored and $35 a tonne for associated storage through enhanced oil recovery – brought entrepreneurial energy into the CCUS world and far more investment is expected as implementing regulations firm up.”

Tan then also explained that other countries are also setting net zero goals which will require CCUS to capture emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, such as cement, steel or fertilisers, combined with renewables and electrification technologies.

Three areas of focus

KickStarter recognises that in order to upscale CCUS technologies the collaboration factor of the initiative needs to remain strong.

“Getting CCUS to scale requires collaboration between industry and governments and involves multi-billion-dollar, multi-year investments. We are working with 11 Clean Energy Ministerial countries to scale up existing cooperation and identify new potential.” 

In order to achieve its goals, KickStarter has identified three key areas of focus which are as follows:

Building Consensus: Getting a CCUS hub off the ground requires extensive engagement among government industrial emitters, lenders, NGOs, local communities and other organisations. This is necessary to identify common goals, build trust and identify the value that the deployment of CCUS enables in each specific region. 

Building Creditability: Many potential CCUS hubs have been held back due to lack of relevant stakeholders willing both to commit to investment. KickStarter aims to provide the impetus for member companies, governments or other investors, including OGCI Climate Investments, to get involved.

Building Capabilities: Most potential hubs struggle to access the expertise and data resources needed to create confidence in the availability, safety and permanence of storage over an extended period. KickStarter draws on the deep expertise of OGCI member companies and can provide access to non-proprietary resources to fill this gap.