Economic, regulatory, policy and carbon-accounting considerations for implementation of CCUS in the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

Successful development of CCU and CCS hubs and clusters is as much a technological challenge as it is a non-technical challenge. Non-technical challenges across social and political aspects, economics, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), as well as legal, regulatory and contractual aspects all can become showstoppers if they are not given the due careful attention. Non-technical challenges tend not to predetermine success. Instead, they represent malleable and dynamic factors that evolve over time in response to broader changes in narratives, politics, evolving planning processes, and other regulatory requirements. Attending to non-technical challenges – particularly through proactive measures (e.g. engaging with regulators) requires time, which unless planned for carefully – alongside engineering and business development efforts – may add to the time required for achieving operation through the stages of scoping, planning, and implementation. The proposed talk will outline some of the most prominently discussed challenges across the various non-technical areas – as identified in the first part of the project CCUS ZEN toward identification of promising CCUS hubs and clusters in selected European regions especially regarding potential challenges in the Baltic Sea region.