The European Commission completed on 17 September the launch of the CO2 capture and storage (CCS) Project Network, the EU tool that supports early large-scale demonstration of technologies, which will accelerate learning and ensure that the Commission can assist CCS to safely fulfil its potential and become a commercially viable technology. The CCS is the world's first network of CCS demonstration projects to foster knowledge sharing and raise public understanding of the role of CCS in cutting CO2 emissions.

The first network members who have signed a joint agreement to share knowledge are all CO2 capture and storage (CCS) Project Network, established following a call for tenders for a contract to assist the Commission, will be supported by the European Commission's European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR). As a condition for receiving EU funding each beneficiary is required to disseminate the project results as widely as possible. The goal is to create a prominent community of projects united in the goal of achieving commercially viable CCS by 2020.

To guarantee that the work of the CCS Project Network is valuable to the wider energy community in Europe, an annual Advisory Forum has been established to review progress and specify the knowledge that can most usefully be generated by the CCS Project Network activities.

The meeting held on 17 September was the first Advisory Forum, co-chaired by the European Commission and the European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants (ZEP) with representatives of Member States, ZEP, CCS demonstration projects, the research and NGO communities, and international organisations.

As Commissioner Oettinger highlighted CCS is one of the key technologies that the European Union needs to develop today in order to make the necessary deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector in the coming decades. CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) Project Network therefore represents a step forward for the major project developers in Europe to work together and to inform scientists, industry and the public about their progress. Knowledge sharing will be essential for accelerating the deployment of clean energy technologies in Europe and worldwide.