Caching the Carbon: The Politics and Policy of Carbon Capture and Storage

Over the past decade, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has come to the fore as a way to manage carbon dioxide emissions contributing to climate change. This book examines its introduction into the political scene, different interpretations of its significance as an emerging technology and the policy challenges facing government and international institutions with respect to its development, deployment and regulation. The focus of the book is on the construction of arguments about CCS in the public sphere, the coalitions of actors who have articulated distinctive perspectives on CCS and the varied strategies governments have adopted to integrate it into climate and energy policies. The authors analyse the issues decision-makers now confront in encouraging the uptake of the technology, managing uncertainties and regulating attendant risks. The book includes case studies of the reception of CCS in seven OECD countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Developments in the EU form the subject of an eighth case study. The authors point to the political significance of CCS as a mitigation option offering a way forward for fossil fuels in a carbon constrained world, while also emphasizing the uncertainties that surround its future development and deployment. Students, scholars and researchers from a wide variety of fields who are interested in climate change, energy policy, and the politics and policy of the environment will find this book illuminating, as will officials and policy makers in international organizations and governments.