The next phase of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) deployment may depend as much on international cooperation as on technology.
At the 2026 International CCUS Technology Conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, Sinopec, the International CCUS Technology Innovation Cooperation Organization (ICTO), Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy and Nazarbayev University launched the Initiative for Cooperation on Low-Carbon Energy Development.
The initiative aims to strengthen international collaboration around CCUS technologies, technical standards and professional knowledge exchange, bringing together stakeholders from China, Kazakhstan, the UK, US and Canada.
More than 230 participants from across the global CCUS sector attended the conference, with discussions covering CO₂ capture, geological storage, mineralisation, CCUS hubs, policy frameworks and commercial models.
From Individual Projects to Connected CCUS Systems
One of the most important developments in CCUS is the shift from individual demonstration projects toward integrated, large-scale systems.
Sinopec is already developing infrastructure across several parts of the CCUS value chain.
The company has built China’s first 100-kilometre dense-phase CO₂ pipeline and operates an integrated CCUS demonstration project with annual capacity of approximately 1 million tonnes of CO₂.
Sinopec is also working with Shell, BASF and China Baowu on a proposed 10-million-tonne-scale open-access CCUS cluster, while preparing a separate 1-million-tonne demonstration project at Shengli Oilfield targeting lower-concentration CO₂ sources.
Together, these projects span different capture sources, CO₂ transportation, enhanced oil recovery and geological storage.
That experience could become increasingly relevant as countries look beyond standalone projects toward shared CO₂ infrastructure and multi-user storage hubs.
Why International Standards Matter
CCUS projects increasingly cross geographical and industrial boundaries.
CO₂ may be captured at one industrial facility, transported through third-party infrastructure and ultimately stored in a geological formation operated by another company or located in another jurisdiction.
That creates questions around:
● CO₂ measurement and verification
● Transport specifications
● Storage monitoring
● Liability and long-term stewardship
● Cross-border CO₂ movement
● Infrastructure access
● Carbon accounting
Greater alignment on technical standards could therefore reduce barriers to developing interconnected CCUS networks.
The creation of the ICTO in July 2025 is part of this broader effort. The organisation now has 60 founding members from more than 20 countries and regions, including companies, research institutions and individual experts.
The Commercial Question Remains Critical Technology alone will not determine how quickly CCUS scales.
The Astana conference also focused on the business models and policy frameworks required to make projects commercially viable.
This is increasingly important as the industry moves from demonstration toward infrastructure-scale investment. Large CCUS hubs require significant capital not only for capture equipment, but also for pipelines, shipping, compression, storage development and monitoring.
International cooperation could help address some of these challenges by connecting technical expertise, project developers, policymakers and infrastructure operators.
What This Means for the Global CCUS Market
The Sinopec-led initiative is significant because it reflects a broader evolution in the CCUS industry.
The question is increasingly shifting to:
“How do we build an integrated system capable of moving and permanently storing millions of tonnes of CO₂?”
That requires collaboration across borders, industries and regulatory systems.
For CCUS developers, emitters and investors, the development of shared infrastructure, common standards and international CO₂ value chains could ultimately be as important as improvements in capture technology itself.
As more large-scale projects move toward development, the ability to connect these systems and establish the commercial and regulatory frameworks around them will be central to determining how quickly CCUS can scale globally.
