The Speech of Alastair Morgan

Alastair Morgan, the consul general of British Consulate General in Guangzhou, attended the 1^st Guangdong International CCUS Expert Workshop and UK-China (Guangdong) CCUS Centre Launch Ceremony hold in Guangzhou in December 18, 2013, and he made a speech as a representative of the UK government.

He said: “Near Zero Emissions represents a sustainable development model which generates economic growth without damaging the environment. It is a model which many countries, including the UK are exploring and I am delighted to see it now gaining support here in Guangdong. Given Guangdong's history and role as China's pioneering province, it is hugely encouraging to see the province commit to R&D as well as the necessary policy reform to pave the way to a Near Zero Emissions future. ”

“In order to make progress on this agenda, it is right that we focus on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). It is a technology that offers real potential to significantly reduce emissions and help decarbonise the world. I am therefore particularly pleased that, for a number of years, the Consulate's Climate Change and Energy team have been working with provincial stakeholders to help identify and support opportunities to move this forward in Guangdong.”

When talking about the development of CCS in UK, Mr Morgan said: “In the UK, we are also making good progress in commercialising this technology. On 9December 2013, the UK's £1bn Carbon Capture and Storage Commercialisation Programme announced its multi-million pound FEED study funding to support the White Rose project, a state-of-the-art coal power plant with full CCS that will be able to provide clean electricity to more than 630,000 homes. This is important because if this large scale integrated project become operational, the technology will move further down the cost-curve, bringing us closer to realistic commercial deployment. As our Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edward Davey said: ‘I’m proud that the UK is at the forefront of developing Carbon Capture and Storage - which could be a game-changer in tackling climate change and provide a huge economic advantage not just to this region, but to the whole country.’ We believe that this, along with the wider low carbon agenda offers a real cooperation opportunity for both the UK and Guangdong.”

Mr Morgan also highly evaluated the cooperation in CCS between China and UK, he said: “In September this year, I had the honour to accompany Governor Zhu Xiaodan on his visit to the UK. During the visit, Governor Zhu witnessed the signing of a low carbon cooperation agreement between the Guangdong Development and Reform Commission and the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. A MoU on establishing a UK-China (Guangdong) CCUS Centre was also signed between UK and Guangdong institutes. This is of course not the culmination of our work but rather a milestone on relationship that has a long way to go.”