Lord Stern visits Global CCS Institute

Esteemed economist Lord Nicholas Stern visited the Global CCS Institute in August to discuss his role in advancing commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), ensuring that the technology plays a role in responding to the world’s need for a low carbon energy future.

As a member of the Institute’s International Advisory Panel, Lord Stern helps shape the organisation’s strategy, particularly in the area of global climate change policy and enabling the environment for commercialisation and finance of CCS projects.

“CCS is an absolutely essential tool for addressing global emission reductions,” Lord Stern said in advance of his visit. “It is crucial to prove that CCS is commercially viable as soon as we can, and so get it deployed at the scale and magnitude necessary.”

“Because of the urgency of the task and the tangible contribution that CCS can make to tackling climate change, we need to begin to overcome as many of the barriers to the technology as quickly as possible,” he said. “This is the very important role that the Global CCS Institute plays and which has the support of such countries as China and the United States, two large producers who are backing the institute through Legal Membership.”

“We need to understand as much as we can through sharing the lessons from demonstration projects, documenting the practical work on finance and commercial issues and keeping track of policy and regulatory options that are effective in supporting CCS deployment,” Lord Stern said. “I look forward to discussing progress on this work with colleagues at the Global CCS Institute today.”

Nick Otter, CEO of the Institute, said: “Lord Stern’s input and guidance have been invaluable to our organisation. His visit today will be useful in advancing our work and enabling us to have a greater and more effective engagement with our members, now numbering 247 globally, the national government members amount to approximately 80% of the CO₂ currently emitted worldwide.”