Australia	Brazil
Canada	China
Colombia	Denmark
European Commission	France
Germany	Greece
India	Italy
Japan	Korea
Mexico	Netherlands
Norway	Russia
Saudi Arabia	South Africa
United Kingdom	United States

The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum is an international climate change initiative that is focused on development of improved cost-effective technologies for the separation and capture of carbon dioxide for its transport and long-term safe storage. The purpose of the CSLF is to make these technologies broadly available internationally; and to identify and address wider issues relating to carbon capture and storage. This could include promoting the appropriate technical, political, and regulatory environments for the development of such technology. The CSLF is currently comprised of 22 members, including 21 countries and the European Commission. Membership is open to national governmental entities that are significant producers or users of fossil fuel and that have a commitment to invest resources in research, development and demonstration activities in carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies.

Thomas Shope, giving his opening statement as CSLF Policy Group Chair in Paris, March 26, 2007

The CSLF held its annual meeting in Paris, France, March 25–28, 2007. Highlights included approval of the Zama and Otway Basin Pilot Projects as CSLF recognized projects, bringing the total number of CSLF recognized projects to 19; consensus on strategies for addressing the Policy and Legal Framework, Capacity Building, Public Awareness and Acceptability, Stakeholder Involvement, and International Collaboration components of the CSLF Strategic Plan; revisions to the Terms of Reference; and agreement upon the election procedures for CSLF chairs and vice chairs. Several task forces gave presentations, including the Task Force to Examine Risk Assessment Standards and Procedures, the Task Force to Examine Societal Issues Impacting CCS Deployment, and the Projects Interaction and Review Team (PIRT). The Technical Group accepted the Phase II report of the Task Force to Review and Identify Standards for CO2 Storage Capacity Estimation. The task force was given permission to proceed with Phase III of its work. A Policy Group task force was established to develop a detailed plan for financing Carbon Capture and Storage in emerging economies.

Stan Pillay, Anglo-Coal, South Africa, replies to an audience question during the keynote panel in Paris

The “Overcoming Barriers to CCS Deployment” technical workshop was held in the middle of the annual meeting.  The workshop included a poster session with many of the CSLF-recognized projects and both new projects to be considered for recognition by the CSLF. Speakers from industry, academia, government, and NGOs participated in panel discussions and gave presentations on ways to speed adoption of CCs technologies.

Previous meetings were held in London, U.K., November 11-13, 2006; Delhi, India, April 3-5, 2006; Berlin, Germany, September 26–30, 2005; Oviedo, Spain, April 30, 2005; Melbourne, Australia, September 13-15, 2004; Rome, Italy, January 19-23, 2004; and Tysons Corner, United States, June 23-25, 2003.

George Guthrie, Los Alamos National Laboratory (left) and Bill Koppe, Australia, during the Paris technical workshop's poster session, March 27, 2007 The Second CSLF meeting was held in Rome, Italy, January 20-22, 2004. One of the key outcomes was the presentation of several projects for endorsement by the CSLF. These projects were reviewed and projects were nominated for endorsement by the CSLF. The endorsement of ten projects was announced at the third CSLF meeting in Melbourne, Australia, September 13-15, 2004. Other important accomplishments to come out of Australia include the adoption of the CSLF Technology Roadmap and the establishment of three Technical Group task forces. The meeting in Melbourne was the second CSLF Ministerial-level meeting with ministers from each of the 17 Members in attendance.

The charter will stay in effect for 10 years and establishes a broad outline for cooperation with the purpose of facilitating development of cost-effective techniques for capture and safe long-term storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), while making these technologies available internationally. While there are several large scale international CO2 sequestration projects underway, this first-ever ministerial-level sequestration forum underscores the new importance given to international cooperation.

The CSLF will seek to:

• Identify key obstacles to achieving improved technological capacity
• Identify potential areas of multilateral collaborations on carbon separation, capture, transport and storage technologies
• Foster collaborative research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects reflecting Members' priorities
• Identify potential issues relating to the treatment of intellectual property
• Establish guidelines for the collaborations and reporting of their results
• Assess regularly the progress of collaborative R&D projects and make recommendations on the direction of such projects
• Establish and regularly assess an inventory of the potential areas of needed research
• Organize collaboration with all sectors of the international research community, including industry, academia, government and non-government organizations; the CSLF is also intended to complement ongoing international cooperation in this area
• Develop strategies to address issues of public perception
• Conduct such other activities to advance achievement of the CSLF's purpose as the Members may determine

Charter signing ceremony, Washington, DC, June 25, 2003
(Click on image to see larger picture with the names of the ministers present)

Download a copy of the Charter: Charter for the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (pdf)

Download a copy of the Terms of Reference: Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum Terms of Reference and Procedures (pdf)

More information on carbon sequestration can be accessed from the Links section.