President Bush and the Prime Minister established the Energy Dialogue in April 2002 in Texas. The dialogue seeks to enhance co-ordination and co-operation on energy issues and has given fresh impetus to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on energy R&D between the DTI and the US Department of Energy, signed in 2000. The MoU provides a legal framework for collaboration between the US and the UK on energy R&D.

There are several workstreams operating under the dialogue, including one on energy technologies. Recent activities under this workstream have included a ‘Carbon Capture and Storage’ workshop in Stratford-upon-Avon (14–15 October 2004), and the UK–US ‘Vision for Hydrogen’ conference in London (11–12 October 2004).