COP29 Side Event: Introducing the Carbon Management Challenge

EIB-Benelux Pavilion – Blue Zone | November 19 | 1:30 – 2:00 PM (AZT)

Carbon management technologies, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), are steadily being embedded in the climate action plans of countries globally. With the low-carbon transition underway, carbon capture, use and storage and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) will be needed to ensure international climate targets are reached and that industrial emissions are being curbed. During COP 29, government leaders, industrial players and ENGOs will be participating in dialogues and policy conversations to unpack the scale-up of carbon management solutions, assessing gaps and opportunities.

Central to driving these conversations forward is the Carbon Management Challenge (CMC); a collective call to action launched in 2023 which now sees the support and committed participation from 23 governments worldwide.

CMC participant countries aim to raise ambition by supporting a global goal of advancing a pipeline of carbon management projects by 2030, that when fully operational will manage 1 gigaton (Gt) CO2 or more annually, ensuring actions align with the science. Participants call on other governments to join the CMC, and on the private sector to play a leading role in deployment.

During COP 29, CMC participants will gather to speak about the urgency tied to carbon management adoption, organizing a Ministerial meeting where the highest levels of government representatives are expected to weigh in on how best to enhance collaboration to drive up projects, provide a status on their pending initiatives, and extend support where needed.

In parallel, climate negotiators will be steady at work during COP, keeping the 1.5C target top of mind as they pursue the collective goal to limit global warming.

Organised and moderated by the CMC, join this event at the EIB-Benelux Pavilion for a full debrief on how discussions on carbon management technologies are progressing at COP 29, how they’ve evolved from years previous, and where these technologies fit in across the broader spectrum of climate solutions.

Speakers:

Brad Crabtree – Assistant Secretary, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, US Department of Energy

Noora Al Amer – Carbon Management Challenge, Secretariat Coordinator

Lee Beck – Clean Air Task Force, Senior Director, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Livestream link: Introducing the Carbon Management Challenge

Time: 12:00 PM | Date: 16 November | Location: Saudi Arabia Pavilion (Blue Zone)

Join the CMC at the Saudi Arabia Pavilion for our first side-event at this year’s COP titled “Carbon Management Challenge: Scaling Carbon Management to Gigatons”.

The current global deployment rates of carbon management are significantly below the levels necessary to achieve the modelled pathways that limit global warming to 1.5°C. Scientific evidence stresses the urgent need for comprehensive carbon management strategies, policies, and projects to meet the global goals set by the international community. In the immediate future, managing carbon at a gigaton scale—reducing and removing at least 1 Gt of CO2 or more annually—will be essential in tackling the global climate challenge.

The event will include insights on:

the urgent need for comprehensive carbon management strategies
how industry players are driving the climate action plans
the value of collaboration to support the scale of carbon management technologies and more.

With discussions moderated by the CMC’s Secretariat Coordinator Noora Al-Amer, we will be joined alongside key climate policy and industry experts, including Faisel Al-Musa, General Manager with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, Clare Broadbent, Head of Sustainability at World Steel, Andrew Minson, Director Concrete and Sustainable Construction at the Global Cement and Concrete Association, and Jarad Daniels, CEO of the Global CCS Institute.

The Carbon Management Challenge Holds Ministerial Meeting on the Global Stage

Baku, Azerbaijan, 15 November 2024 – Global Ministers and government representatives from around the world gathered at COP 29 for a Ministerial roundtable to call for international collaboration and an immediate scale-up of carbon management technologies to keep climate targets within reach. The meeting, organised by the Carbon Management Challenge (CMC) on November 15th, saw the participation of over 20 countries.

Launched in 2023, the CMC is a joint call to action to accelerate the adoption of carbon management technologies to address CO₂ emissions. The CMC is the first high-level and visible global carbon management initiative aligned with the Paris Agreement.

To cap global warming to 1.5°C and avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change, CMC participants – which now includes 22 countries, plus the European Commission – seek to collectively manage 1 gigatonne of CO2 per year by 2030 through carbon management technologies. The Ministerial roundtable, chaired by Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water, highlighted priority actions to advance key projects forward, such as tackling capacity and finance barriers, and encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing. Participants at the roundtable identified three country-led workstreams within the CMC that will help drive collective action forward, which includes developing country finance, deployment, and strategic communications and engagement.

During the high-level meeting, the United Kingdom’s Minister for Climate, Kerry McCarthy, voiced her country’s commitment towards climate finance for developing countries stating, “The UK is committed to supporting the Global South and Developing Countries in deploying carbon management technologies and overcoming financial barriers to address the climate crisis.” The Minister also announced the UK’s effort to lead on the CMC’s strategic communications and engagement workstream. “I would like to take this opportunity to announce that the UK will step-up to co-lead this workstream with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” noted Minister McCarthy.

Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change, Catherine Stewart, echoed the value of collaboration as it relates to scaling up carbon management initiatives. “CMC participants who are investing significantly in their domestic carbon management sectors have a key role to play in improving technology costs and performance,” noted Stewart. “In addition to our work at home, we are taking collective action to tackle challenges together, such as developing effective policies, spurring private sector investment, improving technology and driving sector scale up”, continued Ambassador Stewart.

Speaking on the importance of the private sector and continued support by the United States’, the Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, Rick Duke, noted that “carbon management is government enabled but private sector led, durable across administrations.”

To reach net-zero, the scale-up of carbon management technologies is crucial alongside the wide range of proven climate solutions that are needed to support the global journey to net-zero – including nature-based solutions, the elimination of net deforestation, and the deployment of renewables and other forms of clean energy production. With participation to the CMC open to all countries, the CMC Secretariat seeks to encourage more countries to join the call to action.

Contact(s):

Media contact: secretariat@carbonmanagementchallenge.org

About the CMC: The Carbon Management Challenge (CMC) seeks to drive carbon management projects and infrastructure development to keep 1.5 °C within reach. Launched in 2023, the CMC is comprised of 23 participants worldwide with an ongoing effort to expand the number of country participants. Read here for more.

With the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) underway, the United States has called for rapid climate action on the global stage, highlighting the need for an accelerated scale-up of carbon management technologies.

In a recently released factsheet, the United States announced progress in key areas, including Advancing the Carbon Management Challenge (CMC). The factsheet further noted that the COP 29 delegation will showcase the country’s aims to drive economic opportunities tied to the clean energy transition and accelerate climate action alongside global collaborators.

As a participant of the CMC with the shared mission to keep 1.5°C within reach, the US announced new country joiners and also announced the establishment of the CMC Secretariat to advance carbon management at the billion-ton scale by delivering outcomes with three workstreams.

To date, 22 countries and the European Commission, are part of the CMC, with Bahrain, Kenya, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal having joined in the last year alone. With a Secretariat firmly established to drive the CMC’s target to collectively manage 1 gigaton of CO2 per year by 2030, participants will work together to forge ahead on developing country finance, project deployment and tracking as it relates the carbon management projects, and to also shore up strategic communications and engagement efforts amongst existing members and potential new joiners.

Read the full factsheet here

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