Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum
A Global Response to the Challenge of Climate Change
The international Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) is a voluntary climate initiative of developed and developing nations that account for about 75 percent of all manmade carbon dioxide emissions.
Members engage in cooperative technology development aimed at enabling the early reduction and steady elimination of the carbon dioxide which constitutes more than 60 percent of such emissions - the product of electric generation and other heavy industrial activity.
In 2005, the Forum and the technologies it seeks to develop were identified by international bodies as pivotal in dealing with greenhouse gases and their ultimate stabilization. In July 2005, the G-8 Summit endorsed CSLF in its Gleneagles Plan of Action on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development, and identified it as a medium of cooperation and collaboration with key developing countries in dealing with greenhouse gases.
Similar designations were also made in bilateral activities that include the joint statement of the U.S.-European Union Summit on Energy Security, Energy Efficiency, Renewables and Economic Development, and the Mainz Declaration of Germany and the United States on Cleaner and More Efficient Energy, Development and Climate Change.
In September 2005, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage which found that technology can capture up to 90 percent of carbon dioxide in large-scale applications; and storage can account for up to 55 percent of the emissions reductions needed to achieve atmospheric stabilization.
Formed in 2003, CSLF marshals intellectual, technical and financial resources from all parts of the world to support the long-term goal of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - the stabilization of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in this century. Members are dedicated to collaboration and information sharing in developing, proving safe, demonstrating and fostering the worldwide deployment of multiple technologies for the capture and long-term geologic storage of carbon dioxide at low costs; and to establishing a companion foundation of legislative, regulatory, administrative, and institutional practices that will ensure safe, verifiable storage for as long as millennia.
Geologic storage at great depth is possible in depleted and declining oil fields, which can enhance near-term supply by boosting recovery and also increase reserves by making more petroleum recoverable in: natural gas fields; unmineable coal seams, which may add to natural gas supply by displacing methane for recovery and use; saline reservoirs which underlie much of the world; and other significant geologic formations such as basalt.
Preliminary findings indicate the world's potential storage capacity is sufficient to hold all emissions for several centuries and that there is a good match between large-scale carbon dioxide sources and storage formations.
Many CSLF recognized projects are meant to identify and further quantify the potential of storage sites. At present, there are 19 projects that have received CSLF recognition. Two of the 19 recognized CSLF projects have been completed, the China Coalbed Methane Technology/CO2 Sequestration Project and the CO2STORE Project. Further information on these projects can be found on the CSLF Web site.
The recognized projects include the CASTOR Project, whose ultimate objective includes storage of up to 30 percent of Europe's industrial emissions; and the CO2Sink demonstration near Berlin, whose objectives include assessing the potential of a reservoir type that underlies much of Europe.
New activities include the first projects in developing nations - two in China and one in India. One project in China will begin to quantify a range of storage capacity in a variety of geologic formations and the other will examine the potential for storage in unmineable coal seams. The activity in India will focus on the storage potential of basalt formations, which underlie much of the sub-continent. An early assessment of basalt in the United States suggested the potential to take all emissions for hundreds of years.
The CSLF was organized as a technical working group to develop technology and processes for dealing with greenhouse gases independent of other climate-change activity. It acknowledges the International Energy Agency's finding that the world will have to rely on fossil energy for economic growth and stability during the indefinite period required to pass from the present to a point in the future where low- and no-carbon energy sources can meet most requirements. The challenge is to reduce emissions while fossil-energy use rises.
The Forum involves the world's major users and producers of fossil energy in collaborative, constructive activity on the main greenhouse gas. Members represent the world's largest blocs of economic activity, including the North America Free Trade Area, the European Union and the leading economies of Asia.
Members are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, the European Commission, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Recent Meetings
The CSLF Policy and Technical Groups met most recently in March 2007 in Paris, France. Highlights of the meeting included:
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The Policy Group agreed to provide CSLF recognition to two new projects: Sama Project in northern Alberta, Canada (sponsored by Canada and the United States); and Otway Basin Pilot Project in southeastern Victoria, Australia (sponsored by Australia and the United States).
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The Capacity Building Task Force, chaired by the United States, held a Capacity Building workshop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 2007.
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The CSLF Secretariat will continue to promote public outreach via updates to a list of outreach experts, collection of individual country reports on public outreach, further enhancements to the CSLF web site, and maintaining a "Public Meeting Place" (or "PuMP") at the CSLF Web site for use by stakeholders and delegates.
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The Phase II Final Report from the Storage Capacity Estimation Task Force was accepted, and this Task Force will move ahead to Phase III.
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The Risk Assessment Task Force held its initial meeting and developed a plan for completing its mandated activities.
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An "Overcoming Barriers to CCS Deployment" workshop was held that resulted in a poster session and more than 25 presentations. A survey is being developed to help gauge the effectiveness of this workshop.
Recent and Upcoming Meetings
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The Capacity Building Task Force held two additional workshops, one in Porto Alegre, Brazil in October 2007, the other in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in January 2008.
For more information on upcoming meetings and events, please visit the CSLF Web site.
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