Associate Senior Lecturer Olena Bokareva, Lund University, and Associate Senior Lecturer Gabriela Argüello, University of Gothenburg, together with two postdoctoral researchers, will combine their unique expertise in international law, maritime law and environmental law to address carbon capture, transport and storage at the intersection of legislation, governance, sustainability and technology.
Congratulations Olena, how does it feel to receive this grant?
- Thank you, it feels fantastic. I am so happy that our project was selected.
What are you going to do with the money?
- I will study legal obstacles to storing carbon dioxide under the seabed and how they can be solved. The gas can also be stored in the bedrock on land, but at sea, the process becomes legally more challenging as it involves ship transport across several countries.
- The expansion of CCS has not really taken off, and this is precisely due to, among other things, legal ambiguities. Therefore, for the sake of the climate, this is an important legal issue.
Can you give examples of questions?
- Whose responsibility is it if something goes wrong if the carbon dioxide leaks, for example, during transport, when it is loaded/discharged or after a few years on the seabed? Which legislation shall apply? Should carbon dioxide be classified as waste, dangerous goods or something else? There are many questions that need to be clarified.
What background do you and your colleagues have in the project?
- My focus is maritime and transport law, EU law and international trade and contract law. My co-applicant, Gabriela Argüello, specializes in international environmental law, transboundary waste management, maritime law and environmental governance and works at the Law Department at the University of Gothenburg. Within the framework of the project, we will employ two postdoctoral fellows.
In addition to CCS, technology is also being developed to capture concentrated carbon dioxide on-site directly in the factory. This technique usually goes by the name "Direct air capture".
Read more about Olena Bokareva and her research in the university's research portal