Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
2/21/2014
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with briefly with Chinese officials about carbon capture and storage technology during his diplomatic tour of Asia this week, focusing on an initiative to accelerate the adoption of CCUS in both U.S. and China that was delineated under a bilateral Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) established last year, according to the State Department. The CCWG outlines the different ways the U.S. and China will work together on CCUS adoption, including “exchanging information and sharing experience on CCUS technologies and demonstration projects;” “enhancing bilateral dialogues among government agencies, academies and industries;” and “implementing joint CCUS demonstration projects with business-to-business cooperation.”
The two countries are scheduled to “discuss and exchange views on specific needs and areas for information exchange and experience sharing through e-mail and concept papers, with a view to designing and holding workshop(s) with stakeholders in both countries, including capacity building workshop(s)” in March through April of this year, according to the implementation plans. Kerry did not discuss CCS with other countries on his tour, the State Department said.
Kerry has been in Asia for the last week and has made pushing efforts to curb climate change a focal point of his tour. While in Indonesia he sparked outrage among some Republicans when he compared climate change to weapons of mass destruction. "Think about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “It doesn’t keep us safe if the United States secures its nuclear arsenal while other countries fail to prevent theirs from falling into the hands of terrorists," he said. "The bottom line is this: it is the same thing with climate change. In a sense, climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction."
