The Global Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Institute was launched internationally today by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at an event jointly hosted by the President of the United States, Barack Obama and Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi in L'Aquila, Italy.
The launch followed a meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.
The Global CCS Institute is an international initiative, led by Australia, to speed up the development of carbon capture and storage technology, and reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere.
Carbon capture and storage is a process that captures carbon dioxide (C02) and transports it to a site where it is injected deep underground for long-term safe and secure storage.
The Institute will play a significant role in delivering the G8's goal of developing at least 20 fully integrated industrial-scale CCS demonstration projects around the world by 2020.
Despite the growth of renewable energy, fossil fuels, especially coal, will continue to be a major source of energy for some time to come.
Without global action like CCS, fossil fuel emissions are forecast to increase by 130 percent by 2050.
That is why Australia believes that CCS technology is so important.
Since the creation of the Global CCS Institute in September 2008, 131 entities have become Foundation Members, including 23 national governments and over 100 major companies and organisations.
All members of the G8 are Foundation Members of the Institute.
The Prime Minister today also announced further appointments to the Institute's International Advisory Panel which will be chaired by the former President of the World Bank, Mr James Wolfensohn.
The new appointments are Lord Nicholas Stern from the UK, former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Mr Claude Mandil and the Executive Director of the Indian Energy and Resources Institute, Dr Leena Srivastava.
The Australian-led initiative will drive the deployment of CCS projects and is a practical demonstration of what can be achieved when global objectives are aligned.
The Australian Government has committed A$100 million a year to support this work and a further A$2 billion to support the construction of CCS demonstration projects in Australia.
Further information is available at www.globalccsinstitute.com.