China-Australia capacity building program on the geological storage of carbon dioxide – results from Phase I

Abstract

Australia and China have successfully completed the first phase of a bilateral project that aimed to build capacity in the area of geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) among Chinese researchers, students, policy makers and professionals from academia, government and industry. China and Australia entered into the China Australia Geological Storage of CO2 Project (CAGS) through the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, with funding of AU$2.86m from the Australian Government Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism. In total more than 400 people from more than 70 Chinese, Australian, and international organisations participated in activities including: collaborative research projects on saline aquifer storage, enhanced oil recovery and monitoring and regulations; professional workshops on geological storage; and carbon capture and storage schools. In addition, Chinese researchers were able to take part in a visiting scholar program to Australia and attend significant international carbon capture and storage (CCS) conferences. CAGS has promoted extensive knowledge sharing and networking between Chinese and Australian researchers, and has materially assisted in progressing the assessment of Chinese sedimentary basins for potential geological storage through products such as basin assessment criteria, guidelines for implementing regulation for geological storage, and raising the profile of geological storage among Chinese policy and decision makers.