CILG Lunch Seminar: Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage and the Protection of the Marine Environment

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a set of technologies aimed at capturing, transporting and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from industrial facilities. There is a growing interest in CCS as one of the essential climate change mitigation technologies. However, there have been concerns regarding the long-term storage of CO2, as any leakage of CO2 from storage sites may cause significant marine environmental risks. While Australia has the world's largest CCS project, Asian countries also have great interest in CCS regulations with the increasing development of offshore CCS projects.  The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as an overarching legal framework, provides the rights and obligations of coastal States with respect to operations of CCS in maritime areas. The 1972 London Convention and 1996 protocol including its 2009 CCS export amendment complement the obligations of coastal States under the UNCLOS framework. However, most of the States in Southeast Asia are not parties to the London Protocol and the 2009 amendment to the 1996 Protocol is not yet in force. Therefore, there are significant legal gaps in the operations of offshore CCS, especially in the Asia-Pacific Region. This presentation will examine the extent to which obligations to protect the marine environment under UNCLOS provide effective regulations for managing the risks posed by CCS, focusing on the Asia-Pacific Region.

About the presenter:

Dr Dawoon Jung is a Research Fellow in the Ocean Law and Policy team at the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore and an associate editor of the Asian Journal of International law. She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, which was funded by the College of Humanities and Social Science Research Studentship. A monograph based on her PhD thesis on “the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and the regulation of offshore renewable energy activities” is under contract with Brill Publishers. Her research interests lie in the broad fields of the law of the sea, international environmental law, climate change law, energy law, and international shipping.

Information:

Venue: University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law, Meeting room 8, 4th floor, room 6B.4.04, South Campus, Njalsgade 76, DK-2300 Copenhagen S and Online on Zoom (link will be provided after registration)

Time: 12:00-13:00

Registration: please click here