Laws and regulations for carbon capture and storage (CCS) should address several key issues: incentivizing CCS deployment, effective management of underground pore space for storage, protecting human health and safety, ensuring permanent storage of captured carbon dioxide, and amending existing laws that prohibit aspects of CCS. Regulatory frameworks need flexibility to adapt to evolving understanding of CCS science and technology. Governments and industry also need agreement that carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) meets the same safety standards as other storage methods, where it plays a significant role.

1. © OECD/IEA 2011
Roundtable remarks on legal
and regulatory frameworks
Sean McCoy, Ph.D.
Energy Analyst, CCS Unit
Global CCS Institute Second Annual Europe, Middle East and Africa
Members’ Meeting
Edinburgh, Scotland
23 May 2013

2. © OECD/IEA 2011
Laws & regulations for CCS address multiple issues
1. Incentivize CCS deployment: Laws must address a diverse set of market
failures, from the externality of CO2 emissions, to access to capital
markets (IEA, 2012)
2. Effective management of natural resources: Pore space is a finite
resource, thus law should encourage effective management of this
resource and prevent conflicts with other uses
3. Protection of the local environment, human health, and safety: Law
should ensure that storage sites are selected, designed, and operated to
avoid or minimize impacts to the local community and those involved in
the project
4. Permanent retention of stored CO2: Laws should ensure that the
storage site is selected, designed, and operated to retain the injected
CO2 indefinitely
5. “Legalize” aspects of CCS: Amend existing laws that prohibit activities
associated with CCS (e.g., use of pore space for disposal of fluids)

3. © OECD/IEA 2011
Observation 1 of 3
Many jurisdictions have developed workable permitting
frameworks, but developing these frameworks has proven
to be complex and time consuming. Jurisdictions developing
frameworks have the opportunity to learn from these
examples, accelerating and simplifying the path forward.

4. © OECD/IEA 2011
Observation 2 of 3
Legal and regulatory frameworks need to have some
measure of flexibility built-in given the nature of geologic
storage and the process of building a business case. They
also need to include a predictable process by which they
can be adapted to changing CCS technology and our
evolving understanding of CCS science.

5. © OECD/IEA 2011
Observation 3 of 3
Governments and industry need to develop a shared
understanding of the role of the U in CCS, and to agree
that, where CO2-EOR is likely to play a major role in the
medium- and long-term, it will meet the same expectations
for safety and effectiveness as any other means of storage.

6. © OECD/IEA 2011
Thank-you!
Sean McCoy, Ph.D.
International Energy Agency
Energy Analyst, CCS Unit
Telephone: +33 (0)1 40 57 67 07
Email: sean.mccoy@iea.org
Web: www.iea.org/ccs/