Carbon Capture and Storage: Legal and Regulatory Review 2012

The IEA considers carbon capture and storage (CCS) a crucial part of worldwide efforts to limit global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The IEA estimates that emissions can be reduced to a level consistent with a 2°C global temperature increase through the broad deployment of low-carbon energy technologies – and that CCS would contribute about one-fifth of emission reductions in this scenario. Achieving this level of deployment will require that regulatory frameworks – or rather a lack thereof – do not unnecessarily impede environmentally safe demonstration and deployment of CCS, so in October 2010 the IEA launched the IEA Carbon Capture and Storage Legal and Regulatory Review. The CCS Review is a regular review of CCS regulatory progress worldwide. Produced annually, it collates contributions by national and regional governments, as well as leading organisations engaged in CCS regulatory activities, to provide a knowledge-sharing forum to support CCS framework development.