Zurich Financial Roots For CCS Insurance

The European Union plans to get 10 to 12 commercial scale CCS demonstration plants, up and running by 2015

Zurich Financial Services AG is handing out four submissions from companies for carbon capture and storage insurance cover – reported in Reuters.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) allows the harmful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) to be detained from power stations, and then stored underground to check it from entering the atmosphere.

The European Union plans to get 10 to 12 commercial scale CCS demonstration plants, up and running by 2015. Low carbon prices and high development costs for the new technology makes it difficult for CCS to be developed for full-scale commercial use, without government funding.

Zurich Financial Services had introduced two insurance products in January to cover liabilities during the operational life of CCS facilities and funding for after the plants close.

Lindene Patton, Chief Climate Product Officer of Zurich Financial Services, said: “Companies in Europe, United States, Australia, China and Japan were also expressing interest in the cover, a sign companies see potential in the undeployed technology.”