CCS Basics

Watch WRI Senior Associate Sarah Forbes discuss CCS in an interview with E&ETV:

Worldwide increases in energy demand coupled with a continued reliance on fossil fuel resources have contributed to a significant increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2). This increase shows no signs of slowing. According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) World Energy Outlook 2007, the projected growth in energy demand will translate into a 57 percent rise in energy related CO2 emissions by 2030 (IEA 2007). Others argue—especially in the recent high energy price environment—that global energy demand will be much lower than the IEA forecast.

Scenarios for stabilizing climate-forcing emissions suggest atmospheric CO2 stabilization can only be accomplished through the development and deployment of a robust portfolio of solutions, including significant increases in energy efficiency and conservation in the industrial, building, and transport sectors; increased reliance on renewable energy and potentially additional nuclear energy sources; and deployment of CCS. Slowing and stopping emissions growth from the energy sector will require transformational changes in the way the world generates and uses energy.

CCS is a broad term that encompasses a number of technologies that can be used to capture CO2 from point sources, such as power plants and other industrial facilities; compress it; transport it mainly by pipeline to suitable locations; and inject it into deep subsurface geological formations for indefinite isolation from the atmosphere. CCS is a critical option in the portfolio of solutions available to combat climate change, because it allows for significant reductions in CO2 emissions from fossil-based systems, enabling it to be used as a bridge to a sustainable energy future.

In technology development there is a period referred to as the “valley of death,” where a technology has been proven in the laboratory and on a small scale, but has yet to become commercially viable. CCS technology has progressed quickly from being a concept to a key part in proposed climate change mitigation plans. This progression is partly the result of early successes in pilot capture demonstrations and field validation tests, where small volumes of CO2 have been injected for research purposes. It is also due in large part to the experience that has been gained injecting CO2 for enhanced oil recovery over the past three and a half decades. There are skeptics who believe that CCS remains infeasible, with continued interest driven by the lack of any other viable solution that would allow the continued use of coal. To achieve the potential benefits of CCS and prove that safe and permanent storage can be realized, it is important to continue large-scale demonstration and deployment of this technology.

Although the CCS industry is still in its formative stages, in developing the CCS Guidelines, participants were able to draw from a wealth of information, analogous regulatory experience, and industrial best practices. As the knowledge and understanding of the suite of CCS technologies grow, these Guidelines will be revised to reflect emerging best practices. The potential for further development is most evident where the CCS Guidelines identify areas for additional research and, hence, suggest that extra care be taken during the early deployment phase.

The CCS Guidelines Process

The purpose of the CCS Guidelines is not to make a case for or against CCS, but rather to develop practical considerations for demonstrating and deploying CCS technologies. The starting point for the CCS Guidelines stakeholder discussions was that CCS will most likely be needed to achieve the magnitude of CO2 emissions reduction required to stabilize and reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

These Guidelines represent current understanding of how to implement CCS technologies. Discussions of the Guidelines were predicated on the following principles:

1. Protect human health and safety.

2. Protect ecosystems.

3. Protect underground sources of drinking water and other natural resources.
4. Ensure market confidence in emission reductions through regulatory clarity and proper GHG accounting.
5. Facilitate cost-effective, timely deployment.

To develop the CCS Guidelines, the World Resources Institute (WRI) convened a diverse group of over 80 stakeholders, including representatives from academia, business, government, and environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Business participants included those most likely to be involved in CCS projects: fossil energy, electric utility, insurance and service providers. These experts represent a variety of disciplines, including engineering, finance, economics, law, and social science. To have the technical discussions needed to arrive at a robust set of guidelines, all stakeholders agreed to focus the discussions and guidelines on how and not whether to implement a CCS project. These Guidelines are written in the U.S. context, since the stakeholder process involved primarily U.S. experts. WRI is in the process of conducting additional work to customize the Guidelines for other key countries, taking into account their specific local conditions and context.

These Guidelines reflect the collective agreement of the contributing stakeholders, who offered strategic insights, provided extensive comments on multiple iterations of draft guidelines and technical guidance, and participated in workshops. The authors and editors strived to incorporate these sometimes diverse views. In so doing, they weighed conflicting comments to develop guidelines that best reflect the views of the group as a whole, and acknowledged diverging opinions among stakeholders. Although these Guidelines reflect the collective input of the contributing stakeholders, individual stakeholders were not asked to endorse them. The identification of the individual stakeholders should not be interpreted as, and does not constitute, an endorsement of these Guidelines by any of the listed stakeholders.

Since this project’s inception, rapid expansion of and interest in CCS technologies have accelerated movement toward the development of regulations and policies to support CCS. As such, the organizational and individual composition of the contributing stakeholders has changed over time. The stakeholders listed in this document contributed by attending workshops on the draft Guidelines between December 2007 and July 2008, and/or providing written comments. Other key stakeholders contributed early on in shaping the Guidelines. A detailed description of the CCS stakeholder process is provided in Part 1 and Appendix A of these Guidelines.