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Carbon capture and storage in the marine environment
The Department for Energy and Climate Change, created in October 2008, now has lead responsibility for carbon capture and storage.
For more information, please see their website at http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do /uk_supply/energy_mix/ccs/ccs.aspx
There is growing interest, internationally and in the UK, in the possibility of sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) in the marine environment as a contribution to meeting the challenge of climate change.
Carbon capture in the OSPAR convention
An amendment to the OSPAR Convention was adopted in 2007 to permit the storage of CO2 from CO2 capture processes that are intended to be retained in sub-soil geological formations. This is on the condition that CO2 is to be permanently stored and will not lead to significant adverse consequences for the marine environment, human health and other legitimate uses of the maritime area. The London Protocol was also amended in 2006 to permit the storage of CO2 in sub-seabed geological formations.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and Defra held a workshop in May 2008 to clarify our state of knowledge on techniques and methods for detecting, monitoring and quantifying CO2 at sub-seabed storage sites.
The report (PDF 2.13MB) from the workshop captures the discussions held at the workshop, outlining our current understanding of the portfolio of monitoring techniques available for the detection and quantification of CO2 following sub-seabed storage.
Page last modified:
21 May 2009
Page published: 06 February 2004