Canada to develop CCS standards for underground storage

On June 16, 2010, CSA Standards and the International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide (IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.) announced an agreement to develop Canada's first carbon capture and storage (CCS) standard for underground storage.

CCS is a process that involves the capture, transportation and injection of carbon dioxide emissions underground, which many believe is a promising technology to assist certain emissions-intensive industries to reduce CO2 emissions. Several large-scale projects involving CCS have been announced in recent years in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

The proposed standard focuses primarily on long-term underground storage of CO2. According to a representative of CSA Standards, the new standard will create guidelines for, and advance risk assessment expertise associated with, geological storage projects. As mentioned in the March 2010 edition of Stikeman Elliott's Emission Trading and Climate Change