When I arrived in London on the week of 17 October, the air was full of tension. The whole country was in a critical state. The negative consequences of both the climate and energy crises converged, and the government was on the brink of collapse. In a strangely positive way, our CCUS 2022 conference could not have been more timely.
Many of these themes – energy, climate, jobs, justice and the transition – were discussed during our conference. There were protesters, too. And it was a pleasure to witness these discussions. The panels, mixing speakers from across the continent, pointed at the clear momentum we now see in Europe for carbon capture and storage, as well as carbon removals. Enabling these discussions was but one aspect of the increasing coordination between CCSA’s Brussels and London offices, reflecting the need for Europe to tackle challenges together.
There were many speakers from the EU at the conference. Take for instance the session on strengthening cooperation for cross-border transport of CO2 (recording here). The panellists explained how policy can build confidence into the value chain, providing legal predictability for investors and generally speeding up deployment across Europe. The need to enable storage capacity was stressed by a European Commission official, with 4.6 million tonnes of CO2 that will need to be stored by key EU-funded projects between 2028-29.
I was delighted to meet so many of our members at the event, even if only briefly as I ran around backstage, fuelled by coffee, doing my small part to ensure that everything went smoothly. It feels particularly good to contribute towards making such a grand (and in-person!) event happen, after the successive lockdowns and pandemic.
This sounds like common sense: Wandering around the coffee breaks, the buffet, and the drinks reception, it was clear to me that bringing people together is extremely important. I hope that all delegates left the venue with their pockets full of business cards, and questions to follow up on and relationships to develop. This is also what the conference was all about.
There will be opportunities to meet and pick up the discussions again next year. A European conference will take place in the Spring and the annual CCUS Conference will also return in the Autumn. Our Brussels office remains open and actively engaged and we warmly welcome you to come and visit us on the 6th floor of Avenue des Arts 44.
Check out this page to read a summary of the CCUS 2022 conference, download the presentations and view photos and videos from both days.