Equitable marine carbon dioxide removal: the legal basis for interstate benefit-sharing

Abstract

Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) deployment strategies appear likely to involve the use of common ocean resources to generate financial benefit for mCDR developers. An important consideration for the future design of an equitable mCDR governance regime is the distribution of those benefits between states, particular between developed and developing states. This paper addresses the legal basis for inter-state benefit-sharing arrangements arising from mCDR activities through an analysis of existing inter-state benefit-sharing arrangements in international resource regimes. The paper identifies a set of key conditions that are present and justify the imposition of benefit-sharing between states. Specifically, claims for inter-state benefit-sharing are legally justified where the resources exploited are located in areas beyond national jurisdiction; the resource opportunities are finite; and the ability to access the resource opportunities are constrained by technological and financial capacity. These conditions will most likely be present for many deployment scenarios for key mCDR technologies. In presenting an argument in favour of inter-state benefit-sharing, this paper seeks to provide a more complete understanding of the equitable and legal dimensions of distributing the economic and non-economic benefits from mCDR activities.