International marine regulation of CO2 geological storage. Developments and implications of London and OSPAR

Abstract

For the last four years a considerable amount of both legal and technical work on the storage of CO2 in sub-seabed geological formations has been developed under the London Convention and its 1996 Protocol and the OSPAR Convention. The technical and legal work included consideration of the risks and benefits to the marine environment within the context of increasing atmospheric CO2 absorption by the oceans. The conclusion of this work was that the Conventions should move to remove their prohibitions that applied to certain CO2 geological storage project configurations, so as to facilitate and to regulate environmentally safe CO2 geological storage. In timescales faster than most anticipated, the London Protocol was amended in November 2006 and OSPAR was amended in June 2007. The actual amendments include various provisions, conditions and restrictions so as to only allow environmentally sound CO2 storage. These provisions and their implications for CCS regulation and projects are described in this paper. In this process, three detailed guidelines were produced for risk assessment and management of CO2 storage. These guidelines and their implications for CCS regulation and projects are described. Some key principles from the London and OSPAR CO2 developments are now being reflected in the European Commission’s proposed directive on geological storage of CO2. These marine conventions are good examples of evidence -based regulatory development in a new area, which brought to gether environmental, climate and energy experts and regulators, and key principles established by them will have wider implications for future CCS regulation and projects.