The two day meeting brought together the main Chinese and European carbon capture and storage research communities and experts, in support of the EU/China and the UK/China Near Zero Emissions Coal (NZEC) initiatives. International experts in this field have also participated in the debates.

In total over 70 European representatives and 80 Chinese participants attended over the two days, making this the largest gathering on carbon dioxide capture and storage in China to date. The workshop also marked a significant step forward in the collaboration with China under the European Near Zero Emission Coal initiative.

The workshop came as a follow up of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chinese government on near-zero emissions power generation technology. The MoU encourages the development of technology allowing the capture and underground storage of carbon dioxide emitted from coal-fired power stations, a matter of potential significance in the fight against climate change.

Bellona was invited to present its views on CCS in the context of mitigating Green house gas emissions as well as a case study for establishing a value chain for using CO2 for enhanced oil recovery purposes in the North Sea.

The workshop was funded by the UK Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Trade and Industry and supported by the European Commission’s research Framework Programme, and was held in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

Key aims of the workshop were to:

– Update on the status and development of CCS initiatives in China and internationally.
– Review the status and progress of current CCS activity in China.
– Facilitate and strengthen links between the Chinese, European and international CCS community.
– Generate a ‘road map’ for technology development on CCS in China.
– Identify key actions and milestones for development and deployment of CCS technologies in China

The overall objective was to define, steer and develop work being taken forward under the first phase of the Near Zero Emissions Coal Demonstration initiative. The European Union supports a large portfolio of research projects in the field of NZEC, with a total value of €75 M with the participation of key research Chinese Institutes. The total EC funding towards Chinese Institutes is in the of €1.5 M. In addition, the UK has pledged to support the Phase 1 assessment with approximately €5 M (£3.5M) with activities commencing in late 2006 and reporting back in 2008.

Presentations and participant details wil be made available at the website whose link you can find at the right side of this page.