Legal and regulatory barriers to CCS projects in Europe by Thomas Mikunda

Developers of carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects in Europe continue to face a multitude of complex and interrelated barriers. The introduction of an enabling regulatory framework for CCS in Europe has provided certainty on many aspects of the technology, but it has also introduced a number of legal concepts which are unfamiliar to potential project developers. In September 2012, an expert meeting was organised in an effort to assemble CCS project developers, policy makers and experts in the field, to discuss and identify possible solutions to outstanding legal barriers.