National Low Emissions Coal Council
The National Low Emissions Coal Council was established on 28 July 2008 and will bring together key stakeholders to develop and implement a national low emissions coal strategy. The strategy will aim to ensure the coal sector makes a major contribution to greenhouse abatement while enhancing coal’s contribution to energy security and economic well being. The national strategy will cover the research and development, accelerated demonstration and early commercial deployment of low emission coal technologies, including carbon capture and storage.
For more information on low emissions coal technology, visit www.newgencoal.com.au.
The National Low Emissions Coal Council will also oversee the development and implementation of a National Research Program. The Australian Government has committed $75 million to the research program and the coal industry has given an in-principle commitment to match this funding through the COAL21 Fund.
Further information on the National Low Emissions Coal Council is available at www.ret.gov.au
Carbon Storage Taskforce
The Carbon Storage Taskforce has been established to develop a National Carbon Mapping and Infrastructure Plan which will provide a roadmap to drive prioritisation of, and access to, a national geological storage capacity to accelerate the deployment of CCS technologies in Australia. The Taskforce will work closely with the National Low Emissions Coal Council.
Further information on the Carbon Storage Taskforce is available at www.ret.gov.au
Global CCS Institute
The Australian Government has announced the establishment of a Global CCS Institute, hosted by Australia, to accelerate the international deployment of CCS. The Institute will coordinate and facilitate the global deployment of commercial-scale demonstration projects, including through identifying and supporting necessary research, promoting the sharing of information on CCS projects, and providing advice on regulatory and financing issues associated with CCS deployment.
The Government will provide $100 million per annum in funding to support the work of the Institute.
The Institute was officially launched by Australian Prime Minisiter, Kevin Rudd, in April 2009.
For more information on the GCCSI, read the NewGenCoal Journal entry or watch the video from the launch.
Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP)
The APP brings together Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States to address the challenges of climate change, energy security and air pollution in a way that encourages economic development and reduces poverty. The inaugural APP meeting was held in Sydney in January 2006 and led to the establishment of eight international government and business task forces, including a taskforce on Cleaner Fossil Energy. This taskforce includes an objective to identify the potential for, and encourage uptake of, CO2 geological storage opportunities in Partnership countries.
Further information on the APP can be found at:
Australian website: www.app.gov.au
International website: www.asiapacificpartnership.org
Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum
Australia is an active member of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF). The CSLF is an international climate change initiative to develop CCS technologies as a means to accomplish long-term stabilisation of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere through coordinated research and development. The purpose of the CSLF is to make these technologies broadly available internationally, and to identify and address wider issues relating to CCS. This could include promoting the appropriate technical, political, and regulatory environments for the development of such technology. The CSLF is currently comprised of 22 members, including 21 countries and the European Commission.
Further information on the CSLF is available at www.cslform.org
International Energy Agency
The International Energy Agency (IEA) acts as an energy policy advisor for its 26 member countries in their efforts to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for their citizens. The IEA conducts a broad programme of energy research and data compilation and publishes information on energy policies and practices.
The IEA’s work on CCS activities is being conducted through a number of IEA programs including the IEA Working Party on Fossil Fuels, the Greenhouse Gas Research and Development Program and the IEA Clean Coal Centre.
Further information on the IEA and its activities is available at www.iea.org
Methane-to-Markets Partnership
The Methane-to-Markets (M2M) Partnership is an international initiative that advances cost-effective, near-term methane recovery and use as a clean energy source. The goal of the Partnership is to reduce global methane emissions in order to enhance economic growth, strengthen energy security, improve air quality, improve industrial safety, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The Partnership acts as a mechanism to bring together interested parties from governments and the private sector to facilitate methane project development and implementation around the world. The Partnership currently focuses on four sources of methane emissions, fugitive emission from coal mines; agriculture; landfills; and oil and gas systems.
Further information on M2M is available at www.methanetomarkets.org
Australia-China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology
The Australia-China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology (JCG) was established to facilitate and enhance the development, application and transfer of low emissions coal technology between Australia and China. The JCG builds on existing bilateral and multilateral initiatives which support Australia-China cooperation on low emissions coal technology, including the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.
The Australian Government has committed $20 million to support low emission coal projects with China under the JCG.