18 February 2021: Experts from ERIA's partner institutions attended the first preparatory working group meeting for the Asia CCUS Network. During the meeting, they discussed the elements of the Network, such as the vision, mission, membership, structure, secretariat, and advisory group. 

At the Fourteenth East Asia Summit Energy Ministers Meeting (14^th EAS EMM) held on 20 November 2020, attended by the ministers and senior officials responsible for energy from the EAS participating countries that are also ASEAN Member States (AMS), Australia, the People’s Republic of China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, and the United States, the ministers welcomed the continuous efforts by the EAS Energy Cooperation Task Force (ECTF) to foster EAS energy cooperation towards a sustainable energy future.

They were pleased with the implementation of concrete initiatives under the three ECTF work streams as well as the other initiatives involving the promotion of hydrogen society, mobility decarbonisation, natural gas, and CCUS. On the initiative to promote CCUS and carbon recycling, the ministers noted the importance of CCUS and carbon recycling in supporting the goals of decarbonisation, recovery, and economic growth. The ministers welcomed the cooperation initiative led by Japan and ERIA to establish the ‘Asia CCUS Network’, which is expected to realise the partnership to help implement knowledge and experience sharing and research activities in the EAS region.