Carbon Capture and Sequestration – Promise, Prospects and Challenges - 05 Dec 2023

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its Special Report on Global Warming at 1.5℃, shows that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) of 100-1000 GtCO2 will be required over the 21st Century, but notes that this accelerated level of removal is unprecedented and unproven, and that further work needs to be done on its feasibility and sustainability. It is estimated that up to 90% of carbon emissions from the industrial use of fossil fuels could be removed by CCS. This potential is concentrated in the Asia–Pacific region that has 1,300 emitter companies and more than 20 potential hubs. The momentum in CCUS deployment has grown substantially in recent years, with over 500 projects in various stages of development across the CCUS value chain and announcements of around 50 new capture facilities to be operating by 2030, capturing around 125 Mt CO2 per year.

While there is growing interest to develop off-shore CCS in sub-seabed geological formations, there are unresolved questions about the legal and regulatory, technological and logistics considerations that impact on its deployment at scale and the risks of adverse effects on the marine environment. The panel will examine the legal and policy context in which CCS is being advocated and examine the existing international and domestic legal regulatory frameworks (including gaps) that govern such activities as well as the policy, economic and technical drivers that incentivize CCS infrastructure and activities. The panel will also discuss questions relating to the carbon accounting infrastructure and methodologies for CO2 capture and storage and CO2 transport and a case study of innovative CCS technologies will be presented.