REVIEW article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1621290
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Marine Environmental Protection: Challenges, Solutions and Perspectives Volume IIView all 17 articles
Barriers or Boosters? The Role of Governance Pathways in Deploying Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage: Comparative Implications from the EU and China
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Law, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
- 2Department of Business Law, School of Economics and Management (LUSEM), Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment has been hailed as a game changer in the ever-changing climate game in the era of Paris Agreement. In the European Union (EU), rigorous regulation within a legal framework governs crossborder offshore CCS projects, while China adopts a flexible policy-oriented approach.The discrepancies in governance models for offshore CCS deployment between the EU and China arise from variations in legal traditions, disparities in the legal status of marine areas hosting offshore CCS projects, and differences in involved industries. The paradox between normative governance and offshore CCS deployment finds resonance and explanation in the "Collingridge Dilemma". Experiences from both the EU and China underscore the significance of a tailored-made and well-balanced governance portfolio of legal and policy tools in regulating and facilitating offshore CCS deployment. Policy and law should act hands in hands as twin engines in a sound governance framework propelling the momentum of offshore CCS deployment forward.
Keywords: offshore carbon capture and storage, European Union (EU), China, Governance framework, Policy-driven, Collingridge dilemma
Received: 30 Apr 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Meng Zhang, Department of Business Law, School of Economics and Management (LUSEM), Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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