Scotland is to design a blueprint to ensure carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) can be implemented effectively around the world.

The Global CCS Institute has asked Scotland to develop a toolkit to help nations test the strength of regulations and the permitting process, build knowledge and test public engagement, ensuring CCS can be safely rolled out.

The move is a vote of confidence in Scotland's forward thinking approach to carbon capture and storage, a way of safely storing emissions from fossil fuel power stations.

The work will be carried out by the Scottish CCS Centre in Edinburgh, supported by the Scottish Government and the Scottish European Green Energy Centre. The toolkit will be promoted by Global CCS Institute around the world and the work is being used in various European initiatives.

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Energy Minister Jim Mather said: "Scotland is at the forefront of global efforts to develop CCS, with the largest offshore storage capacity in Europe in the North Sea and the UK's leading candidate for a demonstration project at Longannet.

"Alongside one of the highest renewable electricity targets in the world, we need to reduce emissions with carbon capture and storage technology on fossil fuel power stations. To make this a reality, we have to ensure it is safely and appropriately regulated.

"The Scottish Government ran a full scale mock application for a CCS project to test our own regulations, environmental information and public engagement. This project now means we will develop a blueprint to be rolled out across the globe - to other regions and countries where CCS can play a key role in the fight against climate change. Scotland will equip regulators round the world with the knowledge they need to be confident that CCS will work."

Global CCS Institute Vice President for Europe, Bob Pegler, said: "This marks a significant step in our efforts to share knowledge and best practice globally, so that we can help accelerate CCS demonstration. Regulation is one area where Scotland is very advanced and from which many other regions could learn. We believe the toolkit will be extremely useful to European member states in finalizing their work in the transposition of the EU's CCS Directive. It can also be used by any world region that is looking for best practice regulatory models."

(GK/KMcA)