This paper identifies the key elements needed to
ensure enhanced action on technology transfer and
development and then evaluates the approaches
taken in major country positions. It finds a number
of important convergences in these positions and
identifies four types of institutions that recur in
country positions: central bodies, dedicated funds,
regional institutions and coordinating committees.
Matching these institutions to functional needs
suggests that a combination of institutional
structures best meets all the institutional needs of a
technology agreement.
The [Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009][act-link] (CEJAPA) provides a number of provisions that facilitate the demonstration and deployment of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies. This document provides a brief overview of the most important of these. Coal use is responsible for over 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions[^1], and significant, deliberate action will be required to reduce these emissions. The CEJAPA lays a foundation for moving CCS technology to scale by reducing costs and providing funding for demonstrations.
WRI’s Bottom Line series provides brief answers, along with recommendations for additional resources, for questions at the forefront of climate and energy policy debates. These two-page fact sheets, informed by WRI’s experience working with businesses to address the challenges of climate change, can help companies, policymakers, and other stakeholders stay informed on important policy concepts.
S. 1502 would establish a program managed by the Department of Energy to create a trust fund to ensure prompt compensation for any damages from the geologic storage of carbon dioxide.
Concentrating solar thermal (CST), a renewable energy technology that can provide electricity around-the-clock, has the potential to replace traditional fossil fuel-based power sources and become a central part of the U.S. power supply.
This graphic illustrates both areas of emerging consensus and sticking points among key players involved in enhanced international action on technology development and deployment.
Technology is one of the four “pillars” of a post-
2012 climate policy laid out in the Bali Action Plan
(BAP). In practice a multilateral climate agreement
will not be the primary driver of clean technology
development, deployment, and transfer. But given
the central importance of this issue in the BAP, the
provisions for technology in the evolving climate
agreement will have a major bearing on the success
of negotiations. Designed correctly, they may also
play an important complementary role in facilitating
the adoption of clean technologies.
This paper reviews Party submissions to the
UNFCCC and identifies emerging areas of consensus
and debate that may offer constructive grounds for
negotiations going forward. The paper explores how
an international agreement might facilitate and encourage
a range of technology cooperation efforts by
channeling funding, providing a forum for capacity
building and learning exchange, and creating a
framework for measuring, reporting, and verifying
support and actions.
S. 1013 authorizes the Department of Energy to conduct a program to demonstrate ten commercial-scale integrated geologic storage projects, and provides a framework for selection criteria for these demonstrations. Importantly, the bill addresses the long term-stewardship challenges associated with demonstration, including both long-term monitoring requirements and liability protection.
H.R. 1689, the Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act, introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) in March 2009, is designed to accelerate the development and early deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies by providing a funding mechanism for commercial-scale demonstrations that is outside the traditional appropriations process.
