"CMIA helped to explain the potential for project-based mechanisms across a variety of constituencies and is a key voice driving the conversation on results-based finance and sector approaches for scaling-up emission reduction investments. We urgently need input from organisations like CMIA to operationalise Art 6 of the Paris Agreement."

Mr. Franz-Josef Schafhausen, former Director General Climate Change, European and International Affairs, Federal German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety

Key Financing Principles for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage

28th October 2020 by CMIA

Climate change mitigation is one of the defining challenges of our time. The financial sector is integral to meeting global climate change goals and are committed to playing their part.

CO2 capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is one of the few technologies available that can decarbonize both power generation and industrial sectors such as cement, steel and chemical production with verifiable emissions reductions. CCUS is also one of the most viable sources of negative emissions or CO2 removal (CDR) through the capture and storage of CO2 from biofuel use – bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) – or directly from the air – direct air capture (DAC). CCUS is therefore critical – according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) achieving international climate goals will be significantly harder, if not impossible without CCUS. CCUS is proven, with 21 large-scale commercial projects in operation today. However, CCUS deployment today is still well below where it needs to be, despite CCUS costs being comparable with many CO2 mitigation technologies widely deployed today.

The Finance Sector Lead Group for CCUS, established under the auspices of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) CCUS Initiative, brings together banks and other finance sector organisations to explore the barriers to large-scale investment in CCUS, including how to establish a revenue stream from CCUS projects. The Key Financing Principles for CCUS detailed in this document comprise principles and recommendations to support the establishment of a business case for CCUS and to kickstart the financing of CCUS projects globally. These principles and recommendations are for consideration by governments, industry and the financing sector who each have a unique and essential role to play in the development of a CCUS industry – no single stakeholder can realise CCUS alone. The Key Financing Principles for CCUS apply to both developed and developing countries. However, differences in countries’ circumstances, including priorities, challenges and constraints, need to be taken into account when considering these principles and recommendations at a national level. The Key Financing Principles for CCUS build on the extensive work that has been done by governments, industry and the financial sector to develop financing options for CCUS.

To read the key principles and find out more about the status of CCUS and the necessity of CCUS in addressing climate change, check out the report here: http://bit.ly/CEM_CCUS