Even though the European Union decided to promote carbon (dioxide) capture and storage (CCS) as part of its greenhouse gas emission mitigation portfolio and it enacted a directive eight years ago in order to speed up the safe deployment of this technology, there is no functioning project yet in the EU. While this is a well understood technology with an important emission reduction potential, it requires a legal regime which affords sufficient certainty to operators about their potential liabilities. However, the European legal framework is perceived as achieving the opposite effect. The present paper considers that a way to overcome the industry’s difficulties is more Member State action in the form of pragmatic interpretation and tailor-made agreements.