The CLDP Energy Transition team's Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) work provides legal technical support to governments on the policy, legal, regulatory, and contractual reforms to attract responsible investment in CCUS.

CCUS is playing an increasingly important role in the transition to net zero energy systems. It presents numerous economic opportunities including transitioning companies towards emissions reduction and carbon management and aiding green financing by generating tradable carbon credits. Implementing CCUS raises several regulatory challenges for governments, compliance with international agreements (such as the Paris Climate Accords), as well as contractual arrangements of the various parties. CLDP has the following CCUS-related capabilities:  

• Regulatory Review: assess relevant existing local and international legal and regulatory frameworks (such as subsurface rights and liabilities, and carbon credits) to determine regulatory gaps and potential conflicts to be addressed in a CCUS framework. Where new regimes have been proposed, CLDP can provide feedback on draft laws or regulations and comparative written analysis of different countries’ CCUS legal and regulatory frameworks.

• Risk Reduction: advise regulators on (i) assessing the significant risks with respect to CCUS, such as safety, water quality, leakage, mineral arrangements, and financial viability; and (ii) mitigating the risks through effective site characterization, monitoring, evaluation and accounting, financial responsibility, and post-injection monitoring.

• Standards and Technology Overview: present use and ongoing development of CCUS technologies and international standards related to CCUS projects, such as those developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

• Market Assessment: deliver an assessment of the dynamic global CCUS market, including top utilizers, value prospects, key market players, and regulatory context, to advise the country in the development of a national strategy.

• CCUS Project Finance: advise on financial issues facing CCUS projects including; public/private procurement options, fiscal subsidies and market incentives, relation to green finance, funding sources, cross-border taxation, and carbon credit markets.

CCUS Handbook for Policymakers (Coming Soon in 2024)

In January 2024, CLDP staff, alongside experts in CCUS, gathered together in Mississippi to draft a CCUS handbook for policymakers. The book will be published later this year. 

In support of the Clean EDGE (Enhancing Development and Growth through Energy) Asia initiative, and sponsored by the US Department of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, CLDP is developing an open-access plain language handbook for policymakers on CCUS. The Handbook is a starting point for understanding the policies, rules, and best practices that countries can adopt and implement for CCUS.

The Handbook is being created using the Book Sprints method, in close collaboration with a diverse group of experts from U.S. government agencies, foreign governments, multilateral institutions, industry, civil society, and academia. 

Please enjoy the below photos of our contributing authors drafting this handbook in Mississippi in January 2024.