Consensus reached at Gastech conference to develop new solutions to reduce carbon emissions & accelerate climate tech

Singapore: Senior ministers, business leaders, and global climate specialists have reached a consensus on developing new solutions to reduce carbon emissions and accelerate climate technologies at an ongoing conference and exhibition here.

The Gastech 2023 conference featured a line-up of more than 600 speakers during the four-day event from September 5-8 in the city-state.

It is the largest meeting place for the global natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, low-carbon solutions, and climate technologies industries and saw 40,000 registered visitors, according to Gastech's website.

Recognising that climate technology is a critical component of the world’s decarbonisation efforts, Gastech's latest edition was expanded to include a dedicated Climatetech exhibition and conference programme. It brought together established energy players, policy analysts, investors, and Big Tech.

"On the third day of Gastech 2023, senior ministers, business leaders, and global climate specialists reached a consensus on the steps required to develop new solutions to reduce carbon emissions and accelerate climate technologies," a press release by Gastech said on Thursday.

Participants 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.

Climatetech was the focus of a major Global Business Panel at the mega event between innovators and investors, encouraging the development, deployment and diffusion of important solutions to tackle the critical issue of emissions reduction, it said.

Citing data from the Global CCS Institute, the press release said that in 2022, Europe and the US were on track to sequester just 1.5-2.0 per cent of their current emissions by 2030, falling short of what is required by 2035 to meet the 1.5˚C pathway.

Throughout the panel, speakers 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.

Speaking on the panel, 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 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,” Everingham said.

Laura Leonard, President of Technology Solutions, Worley, 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,” she said.

Concerns were raised around how one-third of methane emissions come 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, the release said.

Addressing the audience, Jane Toogood, Chief Executive, Catalyst Technologies, Johnson Matthey and UK Government Hydrogen Champion, 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,” Toogood said.

Across the panel, it was recognised that the successful adoption of emissions abatement solutions will require supportive policy frameworks and cross-industry collaboration to enable Climatetech breakthroughs.

Mario Azar, Chairman and CEO of Black & Veatch, said his group 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,” Azar said.

During an official signing ceremony, the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) and the Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel (SGMF) signed a two-year Coalition Partnership agreement towards developing global guidelines on the use of ammonia as a marine fuel.

Further, Allied Green Ammonia Pty. Ltd. Australia and Tecnicas Reunidas signed a Project Development agreement to develop a landmark 100 per cent green ammonia plant in Australia that will produce 165,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year, which will, in turn, serve as feedstock to generate 912,500 tonnes of green ammonia a year.

In addition, Woodside Energy signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japanese electricity generator Kansai Electric Power company to lock in third-party carbon dioxide supply for its future carbon capture and storage projects in Australia.

Other panels on Gastech 2023’s third day included spotlight sessions on decarbonising shipping and increasing LNG supply resilience.