Transformative mechanism for CCS under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement presents profound challenges and new opportunities for the design of the world's future energy system.

Technologies involving carbon capture and storage (CCS) are seen as a critical part of a portfolio of low-carbon technologies capable of delivering deep cuts in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions aligned to the Paris Agreement goals.

This recent paper - prepared by Paul Zakkour with experts at KAPSARC in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia - proposes a new, transformative, incentive mechanism for CCS, forged by a ‘club’ of Parties with a common interest: the pursuit of cleaner fossil fuels.

The new mechanism would involve stock-based accounting and supply-side approaches to drive new ways of promoting investment into carbon sequestration activities by fossil fuel producers and users .

The paper argues that a storage crediting scheme can complement and supplement carbon pricing, unlock new layers of climate finance for CCS, and overcome barriers historically faced by the technology.

The report can be downloaded from KAPSARC's website here.