Hydrogen, CCS to feature at July 9 IEA summit: Birol

Hydrogen and carbon capture and storage are likely to feature prominently at an online gathering of more than 40 government ministers and industry chiefs hosted by the International Energy Agency July 9, the agency said in a briefing July 6.

The IEA is set to convene a virtual summit involving leaders from countries representing about 80% of global energy consumption and carbon emissions, in what is expected to be the highest-profile energy and climate discussion since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Using the IEA's convening power, we are bringing together 45 ministers and company CEOs to discuss the clean energy transition," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in the briefing.

"I expect CCS and hydrogen to be buzzwords on Thursday. Countries are coming one after the other to put in place hydrogen strategies and CCS projects," he said.

The summit's goal is to discuss measures to boost economies, create jobs, reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and make energy systems more resilient.

"We all know that renewable energy systems are growing fast, and we hope and push to accelerate that further," Birol said.

"But these are mainly for electricity, which is 20% of total energy. We need other measures to address the other 80%. We need innovation," he said.

The IEA expects to hear from countries around the world on if and how they want to accelerate the clean energy transition, and what policies they intend to include in their post-coronavirus recovery plans.

"We expect to see a concerted effort to accelerate the transition. We hope to build on international momentum around the world with governments putting clean energy policies at the heart of their recovery plans," Birol said.

Expected attendees at the summit include energy ministers from China, the US, the European Union, India and Japan, as well as the UN Secretary General. It will also include the UK's energy secretary and president of the upcoming COP26 climate summit, originally scheduled for November 2020 and recently postponed until 2021.

The ongoing clean energy transition, coupled with the global energy demand impact of the coronavirus pandemic, have prompted increased discussion this year on peak oil demand.

However, Birol said he would not be surprised to see global oil demand recover to 100 million b/d or higher, under a strong international recovery from the pandemic, and warned that government policies will therefore be needed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions over the long term.