Insights and Commentaries

First Global CCS Institute Fellowship to deliver research on effective enforcement of CCS

16th February 2016

Topic(s): Carbon capture, law and regulation, Policy, use and storage (CCUS)

The following Insight is the first of several to be published over the next six months from Dr Meredith Gibbs, who has just been awarded the first Legal Fellowship with the Global CCS Institute (Asia-Pacific region). Dr Gibbs, a leading expert on Australia's CCS legal regimes, is a Partner at HWL Ebsworth Lawyers in Melbourne and practices environmental, water and climate change law. She is recognised in Australia's Best Lawyers for her expertise in Climate Change Law and has advised carbon capture and storage (CCS) proponents and government departments on CCS legal and regulatory issues.

Effective enforcement of CCS

I am delighted and honoured to have been awarded the first Legal Fellowship with the Global CCS Institute.

I am looking forward to working with the Institute over the first six months of 2016 to deliver a research program focused on effective enforcement of the underground storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂). This issue is important because the perception of an effective enforcement regime that ensures the permanent and safe storage of CO₂ will be crucial in increasing public and industry confidence in CCS as a viable technology.

The Fellowship provides a fantastic opportunity to contribute to the knowledge about the kind of legal regimes that will foster and promote CCS as part of a low-carbon future.

What will the research program include?

The program will include:

• Monthly Insights throughout the Fellowship tenure
• Facilitation of a collaborative workshop with technical/monitoring and verification experts
• Research report to be provided at the end of the Fellowship
• A webinar or other public presentation of the research findings.

Methodology

The aim of my research is to identify the key features of an effective enforcement regime for the underground storage of CO₂. I will take a case study approach and analyse five national/sub-national regimes from the Asia-Pacific region.

For each case study, I will examine the legal requirements for monitoring and verification (pre-and post-closure), site closure processes, technical information and data collection requirements, enforcement mechanisms available and the allocation of roles and responsibilities for enforcement, and identify barriers to effective enforcement of underground storage requirements and how these might be overcome. For case studies in countries where the legal framework for underground storage is less developed, the research will recommend areas where the existing legal framework can be augmented to better promote the technology.

Case studies

The proposed case studies will consider: the Australian Commonwealth (offshore); the State of Victoria, Australia (onshore); Japan (offshore); China (onshore); and Malaysia (offshore).

The choice of case studies was finalised in consultation with the Institute taking into account: 1) the nature of the legal regime (including CCS-specific or not) and the enforcement mechanisms available, 2) representative spread across the Asia-Pacific region and a balance of non-OECD and OECD countries, 3) the level of prospectivity of suitable geological reservoirs within the case study jurisdictions (onshore and offshore), and 4) the appetite for CCS deployment in the case study jurisdictions.

Technical experts workshop

Mid-way through the Fellowship, I will facilitate a collaborative workshop with technical/monitoring and verification experts to test assumptions and preliminary findings. The idea behind this is to get technical experts in the same room as the lawyers to avoid making recommendations about the legal regime that cannot, technically, be delivered – or make no sense from a technical perspective.

APAC CCUS Legal and Regulatory Forum

As I write this first Insight, I am preparing the first case study on the Australian Commonwealth's offshore regime under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. I presented an overview of this model at the Institute’s APAC CCUS Legal and Regulatory Forum, which was held in Tokyo on 27 January 2016. The Forum was also a great opportunity to examine Japan’s current policy, legal and regulatory framework for CCS, learn from experiences in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific and to consider the opportunities for Japan to strengthen its legal and regulatory framework for the technology.

Stay tuned for my second Insight, where I will report on this experience and progress on my research.

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