U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette launched two new clean energy initiatives at the ninth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM9) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Both the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative and the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) initiative were originally proposed by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry at last year’s CEM meeting in Beijing, China. This year, Deputy Secretary Brouillette announced that both initiatives will kick into full effect, working globally to protect our environment while still boosting our economies and international security.
The Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Initiative will focus on strengthening the framework for building collaborative partnerships on CCUS between the public and private sectors.
“The recent launch of both the NICE Future and CCUS initiatives fulfills Secretary Perry’s vision to expand the spectrum of clean energy technologies and approaches considered under the CEM,” said Deputy Secretary Brouillette. “International collaboration on both initiatives will not only help our environment and our economies, but it will also add to the New Energy Realism of the future – a world driven by innovation.”
“The vital importance of both of these energy technologies are often under-recognized in their contributions to clean air,” said Secretary Perry. “Both the NICE Future initiative and CCUS initiative highlight nuclear and CCUS contributions to the world by shedding light on their reliability, efficiency, and resiliency, which can only be made greater by constant innovation.”
The NICE Future Initiative’s mission is to highlight the value of nuclear energy as a clean, reliable energy source. The initiative is a partnership led by the United States, Canada, and Japan that will address improved power system integration through innovative, advanced energy systems and applications, such as nuclear-renewable systems. It will also foster a reliable clean energy supply, sustained economic growth, and responsible environmental stewardship. Globally, nuclear energy produces nearly one-third of the world’s clean electricity. In the U.S., it is more than half. Nuclear power plants are the world’s only baseload source of electricity that emits no air pollution.
Other confirmed participants in the NICE Future Initiative include the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Russian Federation, Poland, Argentina, and Romania. Together, these countries plan to implement a portfolio of activities that will call attention to specific areas of opportunity for innovative nuclear technologies, assess emerging applications such as coordinated nuclear-renewables system, and support international exchange of policy, innovation and investment.
The Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Initiative will focus on strengthening the framework for building collaborative partnerships on CCUS between the public and private sectors. It will also bolster and complement existing CCUS efforts led by the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the IEA’s Greenhouse Gas R&D Program, Mission Innovation, and the Global CCS Institute. As a critical technology used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fueled power plants and other industrial activities, CCUS also helps to provide energy security by securing energy diversity and furthering investments made in existing infrastructure.
Led by the United States, Norway, and Saudi Arabia, other international partners that have joined this initiative include Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom; as well as the European Commission.
CCUS and nuclear are important priorities for the United States and the Trump Administration because they are key ingredients in meeting our goals of lowering emissions while also stimulating our economy and ensuring our energy security.
The CEM is a high-level international forum of 25 major and forward-leaning countries and the European Commission to advance clean energy technology deployment.
Learn more about the NICE Future initiative HERE. Learn more about the CCUS initiative HERE.
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