The 2000 Water Framework Directive provides an umbrella for the larger part of EU water law. Member States are obliged to establish environmental objectives and river basin management plans for bodies of water within their jurisdiction, and to implement measures aimed at achieving good ecological, chemical and quantitative status of water bodies by 2015.
The 2006 Groundwater Directive builds on the earlier provisions of the Water Framework Directive in relation to groundwater assessment and protection measures.
The 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive extends the rationale of the Water Framework Directive, by requiring Member States to establish Marine Strategies in order to achieve 'good environmental status' in marine waters within their jurisdiction by 2020. The impact of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive on CCS activities is analysed in the Offshore CCS European and Regional Marine Legislation section.
What is their effect upon CCS activities and what are the key questions for CCS?
Unlike in the United States, CCS regulation in the EU has not been centred around controls on underground injection into, or near, drinking water-bearing strata (see EPA work on CCS under the US Safe Drinking Water Act here). However, EU law in this field is still relevant.
Prior to 2009, the Water Framework Directive would have prohibited the injection of CO2 into groundwater for the purpose of CCS activities. With this in mind, the European Commission proposed an amendment to the Water Framework Directive to exempt CO2 injection for CCS from certain restrictive provisions in the Directive. That amendment was then included in the 2009 Directive on the geological storage of carbon dioxide (see EU Directive on CO2 storage section). The CCS Directive also requires that CO2 injection is in compliance with the protection of groundwater provisions under both the Water Framework Directive and the Groundwater Directive.
Analysis and Key Questions
The directives, proposed amendments and the relationship with CCS actitivities are discussed in the following legislation summaries: