Founded in 2005, ZEP is a unique coalition of stakeholders united in their support for CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) as a key technology for combating climate change. ZEP serves as advisor to the European Commission on the research, demonstration and deployment of CCS. This year’s General Assembly (GA) was entitled Realising the EU’s Clean Energy Future – The role of CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS).

Philip Lowe, Director General at DG Energy of the European Commission, stated that CCS is to get a significant position in the EU Energy Roadmap for 2050, which is currently being drafted and is due to be adopted by the Commission in December. Participants underlined that the technical challenges around CCS should be relatively easy to overcome, but public policies have to be positive about the technology.

Frederic Hauge, Vice-Chair of ZEP and president of the Bellona Foundation underlined that it is time for the industry to show willingness to invest in CCS. He also stressed the importance of ensuring that CCS technology phases out unabated coal and does not become a metaphorical fig leaf for new coal.

Dr Graeme Sweeney, Chairman of ZEP Advisory Council and executive vice-president at Shell pointed out that the reality and the changes that have taken place in the economy over the last few years must be addressed and strategic planning, current investments and maximized knowledge sharing are crucial in that process.  Dr Lars Stromberg, Co-Chair of the ZEP Taskforce on technology added that the costs should not be a problem in the long run. The challenge is the demonstration projects and first commercial plants that will be expensive. Chris Littlecott, member of ZEP’s Advisory Council and senior policy advisor at Green Alliance touched on a very important issue saying that to the CCS community  needs to tell a coherent story about its role in combating climate change in order to get public support.

All the presentations including the panel discussion are available here.