--> Environmental Impact Assessment of Carbon Capture and Storage: Social Perspectives and Environmental Restrictions for Natural Gas in Brazil

AAPG ACE 2018

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Environmental Impact Assessment of Carbon Capture and Storage: Social Perspectives and Environmental Restrictions for Natural Gas in Brazil

Abstract

This paper discusses the first step in the creation of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Protocol for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) activities in Brazil, considering the social perspective and environmental restrictions directly related to natural gas. The EIA process is always for the Environmental Licensing of activities those cause significant environmental degradation, which may be the case for CCS activities. However, in Brazil there is still no specific EIA protocol for these kind of activities, which represents a complex and uncertain current scenario for nationally scaling up of CCS practices. An elaborate protocol entitled “Environmental Impact Assessment of CCS activities” has been developed, based on how CCS activities are regulated by environmental policies in other countries. This is the technical basis for Environmental Licensing of activities in the sector, covering the entire CCS cycle: planning, implementation, operation and decommissioning. For each of these stages, a specific EIA protocol will be applied to ensure the prevention, recovery from and mitigation and compensation of environmental impacts, including all social, physical and biological aspects. The specific EIA protocol for CCS activities is also expected to incorporate existing legal, technical and scientific requirements to add adequate environmental and social safeguards, as well as reducing deadlines, costs and uncertainties that are normally involved in the Environmental Licensing process. The first attempts to implement these environmental policies in Brazil are underway.