Carbon capture and sequestration: A regulatory gap assessment - Topical report

Though a potentially significant climate change mitigation strategy, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) remains mired in demonstration and development rather than proceeding to full-scale commercialization. Prior studies have suggested numerous reasons for this stagnation. This Report seeks to empirically assess those claims. Using an anonymous opinion survey completed by over 200 individuals involved in CCS, it concludes that there are four primary barriers to CCS commercialization: (1) cost, (2) lack of a carbon price, (3) liability risks, and (4) lack of a comprehensive regulatory regime. These results largely confirm previous work. They also, however, expose a key barrier that prior studies have overlooked: the need for comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, CCS regulation. The survey data clearly show that the CCS community sees this as one of the most needed incentives for CCS deployment. The community also has a relatively clear idea of what that regulation should entail: a cooperative federalism approach that directly addresses liability concerns and that generally does not upset traditional lines of federal-state authority.