Toward a Regional Approach to Climate Change Mitigation Policies: The Roles of and Barriers to Policy and Legal Framework to Expand Potential Opportunities for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in the Asian Pacific Region

Abstract

Since the Paris Agreement of 4 November 2016 for the first time brought all nations together to share the responsibility of combatting climate change and adapting to its effects, there has been wide discussion about Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) (which often refers to including Carbon Capture and Storage: CCS and/or Carbon Capture and Utilisation: CCU) considered as one of the significant approaches to greatly reduce CO2 from the global atmosphere. Particularly, it is believed that application of CCUS will significantly become effective in fossil-fuel based CO2 emissions. However, the current status of the world has yet to be widely demonstrated at a commercial scale, and CCUS implementation has still been low. It is a key challenge for governments, who are responsible to prepare for a relevant policy and legal framework for CCUS, in order to operate practically and successfully at the global and regional levels. This study aims at comprising an analytical method and applying it to address any relevant policy for and legal barriers to developing the future opportunities for CCUS technologies in the Asia Pacific Region (APR), especially in the ASEAN countries. This paper aims at suggesting that a regional approach to developing CCUS implementation will play a significant role in achieving the Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation activities towards the global commitment. ASEAN countries are selected as a key group of the emerging countries within the APR, towards the reduction of GHG emissions at the regional and global levels for the next decades throughout this study. This will clarify the key roles of policy and legal framework for the regional action, and will examine the existing barriers to them in order to expand potential opportunities to apply CCUS technologies in the ASEAN countries.

Keywords: International Marine Treaties, GHGT-14, CCUS, Asia Pacific Region, Policy, Law