LEGAL ENABLEMENT FOR CROSS-BORDER CO₂ TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

This lever creates the legal pathway for CO₂ captured in one country to be transported and permanently stored in another. For offshore storage, the London Protocol provides the established international framework, so governments can use its existing 2009 amendment, provisional-application mechanism and bilateral arrangements rather than constructing a new regime. Countries complete the pathway by allocating permitting and reporting responsibilities and aligning their domestic rules. This gives countries without suitable storage access to capacity abroad and enables cross-border transport and storage networks for both captured emissions and carbon removals.

Governments must decide whether to accept the 2009 amendment formally or use provisional application while entry into force remains pending. They must then conclude bilateral arrangements specifying permitting, reporting, liability and enforcement responsibilities, following the Protocol’s guidelines. Domestic transport and storage rules must also be compatible. This legal work should begin ahead of project contracting because a commercial agreement cannot produce cross-border shipments without the required state arrangements.

Legal enablement turns national storage resources into cross-border services and gives storage-poor countries access to capacity abroad. This is particularly important for BECCS and DACCS projects that may be located far from suitable geological storage. Each declaration and bilateral arrangement expands the network and provides a reusable foundation for subsequent projects.

Until the amendment enters into force, cross-border projects depend on a patchwork of provisional-application declarations and bilateral arrangements. Missing declarations, incompatible national rules or unclear allocation of permitting and reporting responsibilities can delay projects. Legal enablement also provides permission to use foreign storage but does not guarantee that transport infrastructure, storage capacity or commercial contracts will be available.

By tracking amendment acceptances, provisional-application declarations, bilateral arrangements, domestic implementation measures, permits and actual cross-border shipments, policymakers can identify where the legal pathway remains incomplete. Reviewing early projects can reveal gaps in permitting, reporting and liability allocation that should be addressed in subsequent arrangements.

Foreign and environment ministries need to work with national permitting authorities, transport regulators and the IMO secretariat. Consultation with storage operators, CO₂ transport providers and capture projects can ensure that bilateral arrangements address practical implementation requirements, while engagement with environmental organisations can protect the Protocol’s marine safeguards.

The international framework is established by the Contracting Parties to the London Protocol through the IMO. National governments pull the lever by accepting or provisionally applying the amendment, concluding bilateral arrangements and aligning domestic law. The EU can coordinate Member States and harmonise storage rules through the CCS Directive, but it cannot perform these national treaty acts on their behalf. Supranational coordination is therefore relevant but does not constitute a separate implementing level.