This report provides an overview of global carbon capture and storage (CCS) policy, legal and regulatory developments over the past two decades, and the status of CCS governance regimes. It also provides insights into global and regional trends over recent years, including initiatives by governments to support the large-scale deployment of CCS.

The report covers the history of CCS policy, legal and regulatory developments across the four main global jurisdictions – the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Middle East and Africa – and discusses major trends in CCS activities in recent years. It also highlights current challenges to the large-scale deployment of the technology from a policy, legal, regulatory and commercial perspective.

Despite positive trends, the large-scale deployment of CCS still faces challenges. These relate largely to:

• the pace at which legal and regulatory regimes are being established in jurisdictions outside the US, Canada, the EEA, Australia and the UK
• the generally long processes globally for permitting and development of storage facilities
• management of long-term stewardship and liability for stored CO2
• few CCS projects are currently commercially feasible without government support.

All the above could be addressed through a comprehensive policy approach (including incentives) and strengthening existing CCS-specific regulatory regimes. This should include a focus on shortening storage approval processes (whilst maintaining robust review processes), providing incentives for investment in storage development, and providing regulatory certainty for CCS projects, including cross-border value chains.