This presentation outlines the key moving parts required to enable carbon capture and storage at scale for hard-to-abate industries in Australia and the APAC region. It highlights LETA’s role in supporting technology investments and projects, coordinating industry, research, policy, and international partners, and underscores the importance of national CCS coordination to support investment, deployment, and long-term emissions reduction. 

CCS policy and projects continue to progress across the Asia-Pacific region. This presentation will be an update on key developments in China, Japan, South-East Asia and Australia.

Indonesia’s commitment to achieving a low-carbon future is driving rapid progress in carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a critical component of the national energy transition agenda. This presentation provides an overview of Indonesia’s evolving energy transition strategy, highlighting how CCS is positioned to support both decarbonization goals and the continued role of domestic industries. It outlines the latest developments in CCS regulatory frameworks, including emerging government policies designed to enable investment, clarify permitting processes, and establish long-term liability mechanisms. The talk also reviews the current landscape of CCS initiatives across Indonesia—ranging from early-stage feasibility studies to large-scale hub concepts being pursued by major operators. Finally, it explores the key pathways to accelerate CCS deployment in Indonesia, emphasizing the need for regulatory certainty, financial incentives, regional collaboration, and technology-ready infrastructure to unlock the nation’s substantial geological storage potential and ensure CCS becomes a scalable climate solution. 

The London Protocol’s Export Amendment for CCS is a truly enabling international legislation. This took a lot of work by many countries, led by Norway, and supported by IEAGHG. This presentation will summarise this positive development and the projects being realised as a result. The Paris Agreement Article 6.4 creates the international framework for carbon credits from project activities and explicitly includes CCS. So potentially enabling financial value of the CO₂ reductions to be internationally transferrable. Mention will also be made of the relevant parts of IPCC guidance and COP30.

Australia is endowed with extensive natural resources including sedimentary basins suitable for geological storage of CO2. Under the Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity initiative, Geoscience Australia will build on over 20 years of research and pre-competitive data acquisition to develop a better understanding of Australia’s geological storage resource potential. This includes establishing the National Carbon Dioxide Storage Resource Atlas and developing an improved capacity to assess injectivity and whole of basin pressure management. In combination with policy efforts to enable transboundary movement of CO2, the outcomes of the initiative will further cement Australia’s role as a key regional hub for emissions reduction.

Debates about Australia’s CCS prospects often begin with seemingly rational questions of “competitive edge”: the ability to attract investment, deliver projects efficiently, secure bankable storage, and sustain clear, clear regulatory settings. But alongside this analytical frame sits a more forceful realpolitik: shifting CCS narratives, activist pressure, investor scepticism, and short-cycle political volatility that can undermine long-cycle project needs. This presentation counterpoints these two lenses—what the evidence says Australia needs to stay ‘competitive’, and how political dynamics shapes outcomes. By comparing peer jurisdictions, we test whether Australia is gaining, holding, or losing ground—and what actions might restore credibility and leadership.