During the conference, the US Department of Energy highlighted that in the US it takes an average of 1.5 to 2 years to select a project to the point of being ‘shovel ready’.

This contrasts with the rate of progression apparent in some countries of the European Union. For example, the CCS demonstration competition in the UK began in 2007 but the winner has yet to be announced. Moreover and as Chris Davies, British Member of the European Parliament, pointed out at the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) General Assembly on October 20th, it is two and a half years since March 2007 when the target for 10-12 CCS demonstration projects by 2015 was agreed by the European Commission. These projects have yet to be chosen.

The funding framework for CCS projects was also discussed. According to the US Department of Energy, 20 percent of the funds required by regional partnership projects looking to test large scale CO₂ injection are provided by industry and the remaining 80 percent by the government. For the clean coal power initiative projects looking to demonstrate capture, storage and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), industry funds a minimum of 50 percent of the costs incurred.

Industry in the EU, on the whole, appears reluctant to produce large-scale investments in CCS unless national or EU-level authorities subsidise a significant proportion of the total cost. This position may be the result of a “risk averse” outlook amongst utility companies operating within the EU – as Chris Davies claimed during the ZEP Assembly – or a disincentive produced by regulatory uncertainty, in particular a highly volatile price of CO₂ emissions.
Bellona believes that the introduction of an Emission Performance Standard (EPS) in the US state of California in 2007, for example, has contributed towards the commercial viability of CCS in the region. Hydrogen Energy’s Bakersfield plant in California shows how CCS deployment can be pursued in an efficient and timely manner.