It was reassuring to read that -in an interview in World Energy Focus the new Chairman of the IPCC, Hoesung Lee sees “enormous value” in “large-scale” use of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

In his interview he implies that the focus of the UNFCCC should change, he says “we need to increase our focus on solutions”. And that means collaborating more with industry and the energy sector, including producers of oil, gas and coal. One of the solutions they should pursue, according to Lee, is carbon capture and storage (CCS).

He went on to say that “Industry in general, and the energy sector in particular, need to be part of the solution to climate change” and “we need more investment in CCS technology".

In the interview he was pressed on the main barriers to CCS. In his reply he indicated that: “the barriers to large-scale deployment of CCS technologies include concerns about the operational safety and long-term integrity of CO2 storage as well as transport risks. But a growing body of literature suggests that there are solutions to these concerns.”

He also felt that CCS could prevent existing fossil fuel reserves from becoming stranded assets. He said that “the better CCS technology becomes – the more carbon it can prevent from entering the atmosphere – the less these assets need to be kept in the ground, and vice versa.”
Such statements from the new IPCC coming ahead of COP21 are good news for CCS.

The full interview can be found at: http://www.energypost.eu/interview-hoesung-lee-new-chairman-ipcc-enormous-value-carbon-capture-storage