Carbon Capture and Storage as a Bridging Technology

Vast quantities of greenhouse gases are routinely vented into the atmosphere in the power and other industrial sectors. Carbon capture and storage (CCS), promises to avoid such venting by the permanent sequestration of the resultant CO2 in subsurface geological formations. The practice is neither straightforward nor uncontroversial. Technically, CCS requires the utilization of existing techniques albeit in a novel combination and scale. Socially, it raises questions both in local communities concerned about a potentially risky process, and amongst those with ethical objections to extending the usage of fossil fuels. Economically, CCS like most forms of abated energy production is more costly than traditional means. Law, at a variety of levels and in a range of forms engages with each of these concerns, and others. Indeed, it has done so with considerable success in the past decade. However, CCS has not been rolled out with equal vigour globally, as explored below.