Carbon Capture and Storage Regulatory Test Toolkit - Summary Brochure

Large point sources of carbon dioxide are responsible for a significant proportion of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – with fossil fuel power stations and other large-scale industrial activities responsible for around half of the total. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is expected to make a major contribution to reducing these emissions.

Few CCS projects currently exist in the world – and a lack of experience in regulatory agencies and commercial entities of how regulatory systems would apply to such projects increases risk – potentially leading to delays and increased costs for emerging CCS projects.

This toolkit has been produced by Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) researchers on behalf of the Scottish Government and sponsored by the Global CCS Institute. It guides users through a regulatory test exercise, which provides a low-cost, low-risk approach to testing regional and national legislation and regulatory systems for CCS projects, and gaining the benefits in follow-up activities.

The toolkit recommends use of a real or simulated CCS project as part of this exercise to assist government agencies and other stakeholders to work together to test and improve understanding of regulatory systems. It explains how a simulated or real CCS project can be taken through the regulatory process from inception to decommissioning – a test of the regulatory process at much lower cost, time and risk than would be incurred under a real project application.