Home
News Releases
Back Issues
September FY2023
The Third Asia CCUS Network Forum Held

The Third Asia CCUS Network Forum Held

September 28, 2023

On September 27 (Wed.), 2023, the third Asia CCUS Network Forum was held in a hybrid format at Hilton Hiroshima. It was co-hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).

At the meeting, Mr. Nishimura Yasutoshi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and representatives of member countries of the Asia CCUS Network (ACN) presented video messages, and Mr. Yoshida Nobuhiro, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, delivered an address at the venue. The meeting brought together 116 onsite participants and about 350 online participants.

The forum, the third held this year, provided panel discussions on trends in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and the CCS policy and roadmap for the whole world and the Asian region. Also, taking the opportunity of this occasion, participants held discussions on common-rule making and project formulation for achieving a carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) network across the Asian region.

1.Overview

Date and time

September 27 (Wed.), 2023, from 8:30 to 12:30

Venue

Hilton Hiroshima (11-12 Fujimicho, Naka Ward, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture) and online format

Number of participants

116 onsite participants and about 350 online participants

2. Major attendees

Mr. NISHIMURA Yasutoshi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan (video message)
Mr. YOSHIDA Nobuhiro, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan
Mr. WATANABE Tetsuya, President, ERIA
H.E. Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA) (video message)
H.E. Mr. Noah Deich, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Carbon Management, Department of Energy, the U.S.
Mr. Jarad Daniel, CEO, Global CCS Institute (online)
Dr. YAMAMOTO Koji, Vice President, Energy Business Unit, Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC), etc.

3. Outcomes

The ACN was launched in June 2021 as an international industry-academia-government platform aimed at sharing knowledge on CCUS utilization across Asia and developing a business environment for it. Asia is a region in which sizable progress on replacing fossil fuels will be difficult in the short term, but has the potential for lfull-scale storage of carbon dioxide.

At the third ACN forum, as the first effort to advance specific cooperation bearing in mind the goal of formulating specific projects in 2025 to build a CCUS hub base in Asia in 2030, which was set at the second ACN forum held in 2022, three documents were concluded at a signing ceremony, including a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on the cross-border transfer of carbon dioxide for CCS (between METI, the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC), and Petronas, a national oil company in Malaysia). Mr.YOSHIDA Nobuhiro, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, signed a MoC and witnessed a Term of Collaboration and a Memorandum of Understanding.

In addition, the forum issued the first joint statement mainly containing the following points on the roles played by CCS from the viewpoints of advancing energy transition in Asia:

For Southeast Asia, which is seeing high economic growth, the combination of thermal power generation and CCS is considered effective as one of the various pathways to achieve carbon neutrality.
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a technology for increasing oil production by injecting carbon dioxide underground, and enhanced gas recovery (EGR), a technology for increasing natural gas production, are effective means for energy security and energy transition if they are appropriately controlled.

Moreover, at the panel discussions, participants discussed the following issues.

Exchange of views on the importance of CCUS, global trends in CCUS, and CCS policy roadmaps in member countries;
Knowledge sharing on: CCUS projects, building a mechanism for trading carbon dioxide, and CCS technologies in the Asian region; and
Future discussions on designing an appropriate system for financing and carbon credits in Asia in cooperation with related organizations.

Furthermore, the ACN indicated that it recognizes the importance of a legal and regulatory framework at the national and regional level, the economics of CCUS in realizing the trade of carbon dioxide, and the challenges in these issues as a platform for CCUS in Asia.