The delegation visiting DNV.During a hectic week the delegation visited
Oslo,
Bergen and
Trondheim, exchanging experiences both with authorities, environmental organisations, business and the research- and university communities.
South-Africa is the dominant economic power in Africa, and produces about 60% of the electricity on the continent. About three quarters of South-Africa’s energy supply comes from coal, and the energy sector is responsible for 80% of the country’s green house gas emissions.
South-Africa will be dependent on coal in the foreseeable future, and capture and storage of CO2 could therefore potentially play an important role in reducing the CO2 emissions, and contribute to South-Africa’s ambitious climate reduction goals. South-Africa has committed to reducing the emissions with 34 % by 2020 and 42 % by 2025 below business as usual levels. The delegation was headed by Dr. Tony Surridge who heads the South African Centre for CCS and consisted of key actors from the CCS community in South Africa with participation from the government, research- and university communities, Eskom and Sasol. The trip was financed by the Norwegian government, and was organised in close partnership with the Embassy in Pretoria.
The delegation met with a number of key institutions in Norway, including the Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), which Sasol entered into partnership with on 3 May. In the closing meeting with the delegation, Minister of Environment and International Development, Mr Erik Solheim, emphasised the importance of South-Africa in the climate negotiations, their ambitious climate goals, and the importance of international cooperation on CCS.
The broad spectre both of the delegation, and the program in Norway, gave a good overview of the work being done in Norway on CCS. A number of possible partnerships within research and university cooperation were identified, this will be followed up by the Embassy and hopefully lead to an even broader cooperation on CCS in the future.