The academic community plays a vital role to advance carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies through research, development, and demonstration (RD&D), as well as through policy guidance and a wide range of educational programs that support the development of the next generation of scientists, engineers, and policy makers. Governments can strongly influence the extent to which the academic community is engaged in CCS. The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) is in a unique position to catalyze, grow, and strengthen the academic community’s contribution to achieving CSLF goals.

The mission of the CSLF's CCS in the Academic Community Task Force (Academic Task Force), originally established in 2009, is to identify and engage academic programs on CCS throughout the world to help support the mission and path forward for the CSLF. Early Task Force accomplishments included a mapping and gap analysis of CCS postgraduate academic courses worldwide and links to the CSLF Capacity Building Task Force. At the CSLF Mid-Year Policy Group Meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada in June 2015, the Academic Task Force was reestablished with a new organizational structure and focus–to foster and support the CSLF mission and objectives via academic CCS research programs, international collaborations, research exchanges, networks, and summer schools. With more proactive engagement among the CCS academic community, the CSLF can facilitate international research collaborations in priority areas and leverage funding opportunities that advance the CSLF mission.

At the 2015 CSLF Ministerial, the Academic Task Force presented a Baseline Survey and Plan of Action: Mechanisms for International Collaborations, Key Research Groups, Summer Schools and Networks and secured endorsement from CSLF Ministers on the importance of the CCS academic community to help meet CSLF goals. Following the Ministerial, the Academic Task Force established an Academic Council, comprising representatives from institutes and universities in CSLF Member Countries, to serve in an advisory capacity to the Task Force, providing recommendations and acting on guidance received. The Task Force has identified an initial set of priority areas for implementation with the Academic Council: student training, practical learning, and curriculum development; communications and outreach; and academic community and capacity building.