| As the current impacts and future risks of climate change become more apparent, and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) continues to increase, carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that entails hoovering up carbon dioxide from the smokestacks of power plants and other big industrial facilities and storing it safely underground seem to be a way of reconciling coal and climate.Interest in technologies associated with CCS has been growing rapidly in both the public and private sectors over the past five to ten years. Even though there are some successful demonstration projects, the private sector of CCS is put off by the huge price-tag on a single CCS power plant and relevant policies. China as the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world has a difficult in the targets for reductions in carbon emissions. As a result, we should have a further study on CCS especially in the area of policies and regulations. Policy is a guiding principle and a starting point for legislative process and development of regulations. And without new regulations or amendments of existing regulations, the implementation of new technology is not possible and will not safeguard the public or protect the environment.Environmentalists refer to CCS as a double-edged sword in respect that on one hand CCS could help humans mitigate climate change, on the other hand would bring about risks to marine ecological system and cross-border environmental protection due to the technical difficulties in the transportation and storage of CO2. Therefore the application of CCS leads to a new subject in international regulations on climate change, and some developments in international conventions concerning marine pollution and transnational environmental pollution. The dissertation then provides some suggestion on regulations on the risks that CCS may pose and explores the countermeasures of China to minimize the risks through legally risk management and strict liability of CCS. |
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