Global CCS Institute Briefing

On a regular basis, the Global CCS Institute organizes a briefing on progress of the contact group on modalities and procedures for CCS (more here) and various other aspects of the meeting related to CCS. Katherine Romanak of STORE and the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Erin Miller (graduate student working in carbon storage at UT Austin) and I have been attending the briefings as they are extremely informative. In this photo from Friday, December 2, you can see Global CCS Institute and CCS Association staff leading discussions on the current draft (from the previous night's session) of the contact group's modalities and procedures for CCS document, which was distributed to us at the briefing.

At the moment it seems there is some negotiating that still needs to take place on several issues, in particular on the liability borne by project participants (e.g., developed countries) vs. the host party (e.g., a developing country where the carbon dioxide has been stored). The contact group will continue to meet Friday afternoon and Saturday morning as needed to come to a resolution on the document. Hopefully, the text will then move to the plenary meeting of SBSTA (Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice) on Saturday afternoon for approval by parties at that level.