The influence of institutions on the development of carbon dioxide storage and utilization applications: carbon mineralization and geological storage

According to IEA Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is necessary for successful climate change mitigation and would need to account for approximately 25% of total carbon dioxide reductions. EU has emphasized the need for CCS by developing incentives through the establishment of a funding programme and by including CCS into emission trading. Policy has mainly concentrated on applications based on geological storage, thus excluding the use of CCS with bioenergy and carbon mineralization. The development of emerging technologies and the influence of institutions can be analysed using a technological innovation systems (TIS) framework. This approach explores the system dynamics surrounding new technologies by analysing functions taking place in a network of actors, influenced by institutions. Institutions, both formal and informal, are the rules of the game and have the ability to affect the competition between different technological applications. The CCS TIS has developed within the existing fossil fuel regime and the formal and informal institutions are based on this regime. Therefore a larger shift in the regime and the institutions surrounding it would be required to improve conditions for the development of mineralization and CCS with bioenergy. Policy on CCS is based on forecasts that geological storage applications are likely to be successful in the future. Policy focus on geological storage has created formal institutions that can slow down or even prevent the development of carbon mineralization. These include the EU ETS, which only takes into account reductions from geological storage and the CCS directive, focused at regulating storage operations. Informal institutions, such as the use of the term CO2 utilization instead of storage to describe carbon mineralization could lead to marginalization from CCS discussion and research.