The Project

RISCS is a European project which aims to improve our understanding of the possible environmental impacts of geological storage of CO2. There are 24 organisations participating in RISCS including research institutions, industry environmental associations and the International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R & D Programme. The project is designed to study a wide range of potential impacts, thus providing tools for developing appropriate legislation and helping to ensure the safe management of CO2 storage sites.

  

RISCS is a 4- year, EU and industry sponsored project, which will focus on the potential environmental impacts that might be associated with CO2 leakage from a storage site, even if such leakage is very unlikely.

The project will provide the essential research, through field work and the development and validation of appropriate models, to underpin frameworks for the safe management of CO2 storage sites.

 

Research within the project is focused on understanding the potential likelihoods and consequences of impacts scenarios on key receptors such as human populations, ecosystems, and groundwater.

 

A representative set of reference scenarios, encompassing the main types of impacts to living organisms that could be present, will be investigated. This will cover a range of CO2 storage options , both onshore and offshore, in a variety of geographical settings.

 

RISCS will communicate the research and the outcomes in an accessible way to stakeholders and the public. A key output of the project (and other related research) will be a ‘Guide for Impact Appraisal’, which will be developed in consultation with stakeholders.

 

Environmental protection regulators and site operators will get clear and agreed definitions of credible scenarios for leakage and quantified descriptions of realistic impacts.

 

Regulators and policymakers will get tools to design and implement both strategically and operationally fit-for-purpose regulations, most especially in evaluating environmental impact assessments.

 

Operators and regulators will be able to greatly improve site safety, due to the increased capability to assess and predict the potential consequences of leaks from storage sites