The Emerging International Regulation of Carbon Storage in Sub-Seabed Geological Formations

Abstract

As Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a new technology, there had been no legal framework regulating CCS projects or addressing its potential risks on either an international or a European or national level. Accordingly, significant changes at all governance levels have taken place within the last five years. This paper will outline the development of the international and European regulation of carbon storage in sub-seabed geological formations. But, first of all, as the legal framework has to address the risks associated with CCS technology, some background on this technology is necessary. Hence, an overview of the three procedural steps of CCS technology referring to the state of research will be given in section 2. Section 3 will discuss the potential risks related to carbon storage alongside the various measures taken to counteract those risks. Thereafter the existing legal framework will be explained in section 4, taking the United Nations Convention on the Law of the (LOSC) 1982 as a starting point, before focusing on the specific regulations of the London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes or other Matter, the Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes or other Matter (London Protocol), the OSPAR Convention, and finally the European Directive on the geological storage of carbon dioxide. This section will also examine whether these instruments provide an effective regime to counteract the risks of CCS technology. Section 5 offers a series of conclusions. The paper refers to a presentation given at the Conference New Uses of the Sea at the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, Swansea University (UK), in September 2010.