Participants at the on-going Gastech 2023, have agreed that globally, a clearer picture of the transformative potential of climate technologies is emerging, with new infrastructure promising to mitigate emissions being brought to market.
They also reached consensus on the steps required to develop new solutions to reduce carbon emissions and accelerate climate technologies.
They also noted that climate technology is a critical component of the world’s decarbonisation efforts, a reason this year’s Gastech included a dedicated Climatetech exhibition and conference programme.
Speakers at the panel session discussed the scale of momentum behind the technology, and the impact that a more favourable regulatory environment would have on the development of the technology.
Specifically, the Chief Executive Officer, Asia Natural Gas & Energy Association (ANGEA), Paul Everingham,said: “There will not be an orderly transition in Asia without natural gas and carbon capture. The big challenge, especially for heavy emitting North Asian heavy countries, is storage.
“We are going to invest significant funds in doing a detailed study on a framework for the Asia-Pacific region that looks at carbon capture, carbon storage, carbon transport, and carbon pricing. Using that, we can give certainty to financiers and engineers to implement the scheme.”
Concerns were raised around how one third of methane emissions comes from the energy sector. Yet, methane, which is just one piece of the puzzle, is considered more than 25 times as potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere compared with CO2.
Carbon capture
The President, Technology Solutions, Worley,Laura Leonard, said: “Worley’s mission is to deliver sustainability to the world and carbon capture is a critical part of our path to net zero. Because of that we are focusing our efforts on enabling carbon capture to become a reality.
“The good news is that the technology is ready now, and proven. We need to be deploying the technology that can drive down the costs for carbon capture.”
Also, innovators and investors encouraged the development, deployment and diffusion of critically important solutions to tackle the critical issue of emissions reduction.
Concerns were raised around how one third of methane emissions comes from the energy sector. Yet, methane, which is just one piece of the puzzle, is considered more than 25 times as potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere compared with CO2.
Panellists agreed that the successful adoption of emissions abatement solutions will require supportive policy frameworks and cross-industry collaboration to enable Climatetech breakthroughs.
Similarly, Chief Executive, Catalyst Technologies, Johnson Matthey and UK Government Hydrogen Champion, Jane Toogood, said: “We have solutions around technologies today – such as hydrogen, sustainable fuels – and need to make sure that we are deploying technology at scale. Scaling is definitely one of the things we need to get on with.
“Currently we have an opportunity to decarbonise existing assets. Methanol is there, but e-methanol is not. Those technologies exist today, so there is no issue in deploying them. Looking ahead, our focus needs to be scaling up for the future.”
On his part, Chairman and CEO, Black & Veatch, Mario Azar, said: “Black and Veach is focused on critical human infrastructure, and energy is a big part of that. Energy has been the largest part of our portfolio, and lately the energy transition has been a big part of focus and strategy and portfolio evolutions.
“It is great that we are talking about this at Gastech this year, because it is all about finding new solutions, and working together to develop these solutions.”
