Climate summit: COP23 in one day!

Following last year’s exotic experience at the climate summit in Marrakech – I was excited to find out what this year’s event in Bonn, Germany, would bring.

CCS in Norway – past and future

Just like last year my role was to take part as co-arranger of a so-called “side-event” in the European Pavilion, and to present a talk entitled “CCS in Norway – past and future”. I talked about SINTEF’s research on CCS and also the Norwegian Full-scale CCS Project.

Collaboration linked to CCS-related research in Europe is working very well, and my role as Chair of the European Energy Research Alliance EERA CCS Group (comprising approximately 40 R&D institutes) is key to this. I am strongly convinced that this form of collaboration is important not only for the sake of research and our clients, but also for European competitiveness and our ability to address the challenges resulting from climate change.

Find out more about our Norwegian CCS research centre.

The Japanese want to learn from Norway

Following the meeting, I was approached by two Japanese consultants who had attended my presentation, because, in their view, Japan has a lot to learn from Norway about CCS. They represented the Japanese authorities who were looking to establish closer working relations with Norway in this field. Exciting! So, you never know exactly what will happen next COP :- )

Ivrige Japanske konsulenter — Eager Japanese consultants.

The following day I woke to find a text from an important “Smart Cities” client who had read on Twitter that I was at the COP. “Marie, you are more than welcome to visit our stand today. I hope you can come and see us. I think it could be really beneficial”. Unfortunately, I was already back in Trondheim on other pressing business, but I thought: “Oh well, it would have been nice to have been here for longer, but there wasn’t enough time”.

I read in the paper that Syria has now ratified the Paris Agreement. Things are happening… Some say that this year’s COP is not as important as earlier years. Well, I don’t know. I this it is important to share our research and experiences, both in Europe and globally. In the spirit of SINTEF’s vision: “Technology for a better society”

Here are som pictures from my one day at the COP summit: