World Energy Resources | 2016

WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | WORLD ENERGY RESOUR CES 2016
In Canada, in July 2015, Canada’s CO2 performance standards, Reduction of
Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal-fired Generation of Electricity Regulations,
came into effect for new coal-fired power plants and units that have reached the end
of their useful life. The standard is 420 tonnes of CO2/gigawatt hour (the emissions
intensity of natural gas combined cycle technology) and effectively precludes the
construction of any new coal-fired power plants in Canada without CCS. New and
end-of-life units that incorporate CCS may apply for an exemption, subject to
ministerial approval, until 2025 if there is significant risk of electricity supply
disruption. In the rule’s cost-benefit statement, there is discussion on the financial
benefits of using captured CO2 for EOR.
Without additional policy incentives, it is unlikely that the regulation alone will drive
further CCS deployment in North America.
Europe
The most important recent CCS policy (and regulatory) development in Europe was the
review of the Directive 2009/31/EC (CCS Directive) on the geological storage of CO2. The
EC launched an assessment process of the CCS Directive in April 2014. The scope of the
review was to assess if the Directive is ‘fit for purpose’, as well as consider the broader
objectives of the Directive related to the EU enabling policy framework for CCS. The final
report to the review of Directive 2009/31/EC was released in January 2015. 19 The report’s
conclusions suggest that there has not been enough experience of the CCS Directive to
justify high level changes and that the key issues for the uptake of CCS in Europe are linked
to CCS enabling policies rather than the Directive itself. The EC released its own
implementation report in November 2015, confirming the findings of the review process. 20
STORAGE DIRECTIVE 2009/31/EC REVIEW – THE FINAL REPORT,
JANUARY 2015
Conclusions on the Directive assessment:
The overall need for CCS to decarbonise power production and heavy
industry in Europe remains urgent while progress has been slow.
The CCS Directive is an enabling mechanism for CCS but not the main
instrument driving CCS uptake, and it has had little influence on the speed
19
Triple E Consulting, Ricardo-AEA & TNO (2015) Support to the review of Directive 2009/31/EC on the
geological storage of carbon dioxide (CCS Directive), Final deliverable under Contract No
340201/2014/679421/SER/CLIMA.C1, The Netherlands.
20
European Commission (2015) Report on review of Directive 2009/31/EC on the geological storage of
carbon dioxide
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