Heleen Groenenberg

Guidelines for licensing CO2 storage operations around the globe

In January 2008, the European Commission proposed a directive on the geologic storage of CO2 in the EU. Simultaneous to the development of the directive by the EC, the CO2 ReMoVe project, funded by FP6 and industry, wrote a draft contribution to future guidelines for licensing of CO2 storage in saline reservoirs and depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs. This document contains detailed checklists for operators and authorities in each of the stages of a licensing procedure for a CO2 storage operation. The draft guidelines will be updated as results from monitoring ongoing CO2 storage operations become available. They may serve as a contribution to the regulation of CO2 storage anywhere in the world, and may be also be of use in evaluating the EU directive in the future.

Is CO2 capture and storage ready to roll

Within the context of rising overall awareness of the climate change problem, CO2 capture and storage has risen rapidly on the policy agenda. Some Stakeholders have suggested that technology, cost and legal questions around CCS are all but solved. However, while policymakers embark on the agreement of national, European and international legislation on CCS, a number of challenges arise. This paper reviews the progress of CCS towards a legally embedded mitigation option, and identifies three major conditions for the acceptability of CCS deployment: social acceptance by stakeholders and the lay public, robustness of economic and cost data, and legal and regulatory consistency. Technical maturity and reliability are important crosscutting issues that need to be fully addressed before any of the other areas can be solved. It is concluded that, although legal and regulatory issues are close to being resolved, the role that CCS may play in the global energy system has likely been overestimated in system models, which is partly due to transparency and information problems. In addition, resistance from environmental organisations may have to be reckoned with and social acceptance of CCS remains one of its most prominent unknowns.

Regulatory and social analysis for the legitimation and market formation of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture and storage technologies

Abstract: Deployment of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) depends on regulatory and public perception issues as much as on technological developments. This chapter assesses, from an innovation system perspective, the technological, regulatory and social situation for CCS, and clarifies the current plans for regulation in various countries. Besides estimating the impact prospective regulation is likely to have on CCS implementation, this chapter reviews the experience in the social sciences with public perception of CCS. We conclude that legitimation and market formation of CCS, and to a lesser degree (and in some countries) institutions to influence direction of search and entrepreneurial experimentation have to be further developed for CCS implementation. A global demonstration programme as well as guidelines for public engagement and communication would be instrumental in achieving this.