Climate Change Youth Policy Summit The goal of the first The Keystone Center Policy Summit was to develop a national transportation policy position based on the use of sustainable energy, and considering what technologies need to be implemented. For more information, visit Youth Policy Summit.

Carbon Geologic Storage: Outreach and Education

The Keystone Center is assisting the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to develop tools and strategies for educating and engaging the public in this highly technical issue. Carbon capture and storage in geologic reservoirs is one method under consideration to limit the release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

To assist in educating the public about this emerging technology, The Keystone Center has developed a middle school curriculum on the subject of climate change. The non-biased curriculum which spans across social studies, language arts, science and math has been very positively received by DOE. Through regional and national conferences the curriculum has been disseminated to hundreds of teachers across the country. The Keystone Center also trained 50 teachers who are piloting the curriculum in their classrooms and are providing feedback to improve the existing activities.

To view the curriculum visit:
http://www.keystonecurriculum.org/

In addition, The Center recently completed a seminal paper on risk evaluation and risk communication that is intended for those involved in sequestration research, but is broadly applicable to anyone involved in land-intensive, water-intensive, or energy-intensive proposals.

This year, as part of DOE’s outreach effort, The Keystone Center plans to conduct a risk communication workshop to help those involved in the research better educate local populations about their research. This projected is funded by DOE and NETL.

back to top

Final Report
Executive Summary

Final Report Press Release, May 2003
The Keystone Dialogue on Global Climate Change convened a group of about 30 stakeholders in October 2000 to: (1) review the magnitude and timing of carbon dioxide (CO₂ reductions required globally and by the United States to achieve four concentration ceilings under alternative international emission allocations strategies; and (2) review policies for their ability to achieve the U.S. reductions from key sectors of the economy including electricity, energy intensive manufacturing, passenger automobiles. Biologic sequestration was also assessed. The Dialogue focused on the long-term goal of stabilizing atmospheric CO₂concentrations that is the objective incorporated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and distinguishes it from many other studies.

The analysis concludes that significant CO₂emission reductions are required on a global basis and by the United States from the reference case in order to achieve the range of concentration ceilings (450-750 parts per million volume) under discussion by the international community. The reference or "business as usual" CO₂emissions case used for the analysis includes significant technological advances that will require a major effort. The U.S. share of global emission reductions required for stabilization were developed as a benchmark and based on an explicit set of assumptions regarding international participation in a global effort designed to stabilize CO₂emissions by the end of the century. The selection of the cases used for analysis does not constitute an endorsement by any of the Dialogue participants.

The report also explores the impacts of policy, timing and carbon prices on private firms' investment decisions during the timeframe from 2010 to 2030. This study concluded that a combination of CO₂ prices ranging from $6.80 to $13.60/tonne and additional incentive policies to address consumer activities that are largely insensitive to price (e.g., use of automobiles and electricity in the home), both starting in 2010, could result in significant emissions reductions over the period 2020 to 2030. Results of this analysis suggest that with these market prices and some additional policies, the United States could meet half to virtually its entire 'share' of CO₂ emissions reductions from the three key sectors and from biologic sequestration to achieve stabilization levels of 550 or 650 ppmv.

The study also concludes that early market signals are critical, and that price signals starting in 2010 would be necessary to achieve the emission reductions by 2020 to 2030. It is important that a signal be sent that emissions will be limited in the near term in order for the private sector to develop cost-effective reduction strategies. The Dialogue participants representing private firms indicated that due to learning curves and investment cycles, there is often a significant lag time between the market signal to reduce emissions and the actual emission reductions. They indicated it could take as much as six to ten years to realize some of the reductions discussed in the report. The majority of reductions looked at for this study come from improvements in the electricity supply-side, end use electric efficiency, changes in the electric dispatch order, and biologic sequestration, although reductions are also achieved in the energy intensive manufacturing sectors. The study failed to reach consensus on the magnitude of emissions reductions that might be achieved from passenger automobiles. However, it was recognized that incentive-based policies have the potential to induce significant CO₂emissions reductions in this sector.

Dialogue participants included: Alcan Inc., American Electric Power, Battelle, BP America Inc., CO2E.com, Cummins Inc., DuPont, EPRI, Natsource LLC., Office of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Natural Resources Defense Council, PSE&G, Stratus Consulting, The Energy Foundation, The Turner Foundation, Toyota, Union of Concerned Scientists, Van Ness Feldman P.C., and Wisconsin Energy. This project was funded through the contributions of philanthropic foundations and private corporations.

back to top