Marsaili Van Looy, 'Seeing law by hearing law: Mapping a novel regulatory landscape by stakeholder interviewing'

Empirical Legal Research Network

Seeing law by hearing law: Mapping a novel regulatory landscape by stakeholder interviewing

Abstract
Beyond greenhouse gas emission reductions, greenhouse gas removals (GGRs) are set to play a crucial role in helping the UK reach its Net Zero climate targets. GGR techniques are incredibly varied, with land-based GGRS spanning everything from nature-based solutions like afforestation and peatland restoration, to industrial engineered techniques such as direct air capture and storage, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Some GGR techniques straddle both the nature-based and industrial approaches, like biochar production and enhanced rock weathering. Beyond land-based GGRs there is also the rather under-explored world of marine GGRs to consider. 

The majority of GGR techniques are cutting-edge and still undergoing technological development. One consequence of this is that the law is not designed directly for these new activities, and as these nascent projects look to scale up their activities, they are meeting unprecedented legal hurdles which require to be addressed in order to facilitate future GGR activity. This talk presents Marsaili Van Looy’s current research as part of the CO2RE Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, which explores the existing regulatory regimes throughout the UK for each major GGR technique, and identifies where the regulatory gaps and challenges lie. 

This research employs a mixed qualitative methodology, focusing primarily on the findings of 31 semi-structured, exploratory interviews with regulators, scientists, project developers and others working on GGR projects, which have generated novel insights and highlighted regulatory challenges. This is a first-of-its-kind project in the GGR space, which is characterised by early-stage development and siloed knowledge production and practice. The findings emerging from this research are substantially unknown to the GGR community and have most certainly not yet been explored in existing literature. This empirical research is augmented by a desk-based component involving a critical review of policy documents, regulatory guidance, and industry literature to map the regulatory context, all of which is currently being synthesised into a report setting out recommendations for how legal updates (doctrinal and institutional) could be considered in each of the four UK nations to better facilitate the development and scaling of GGR practices.

About the speaker
Marsaili Van Looy is a Research Fellow for the CO2RE Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, with a focus on the UK regulatory regime for greenhouse gas removals. Her independent research interests include carbon capture and storage law of the UK and European Union. Prior to joining Edinburgh Law School, Marsaili worked as a construction solicitor.

Organiser 
Dr Gabrielle Watson, Chancellor’s Fellow and Director, Empirical Legal Research Network, gabrielle.watson@ed.ac.uk 

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