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This paper addresses the process of using CO 2 for enhanced oil recovery technique (CO 2 -EOR) as driver to produce more oil from depleted oil reservoirs, while leading to effective CO 2 abatement. Here, a simplified summary of this complex system through a lifecycle emission analysis is presented. This analysis is based on two concepts: (i) the Carbon Footprint of CO 2 -EOR, and (ii) the Principle of Additionality in CO 2 -EOR. The data used for this analysis comes from the Weyburn project in Saskatchewan, Canada.The international community has been discussing for some time if CO 2 -EOR projects should be considered for carbon credits. There are still questions of "additionality" that should be addressed before the net climate impact of storing CO 2 in an EOR project is verified. Since CO 2 -EOR has gained considerable interest within the oil and gas industry due to its potential for increased oil production, it is important to use a real case data to probe if CO 2 -EOR is a viable CO 2 abatement technology or if on the contrary, it may result in increased emissions.This study concludes that any emissions trading benefits from CO 2 storing as part of a CO 2 -EOR project should be discounted according to a detailed analysis of the full cycle carbon balance using the principle of additionality. A key exception to this should be when a commercially viable CO 2 -EOR project results in the development of pipeline infrastructure which would also enable long term geological sequestration without EOR. In this way, CO 2 -EOR projects could play an important catalyst role in accelerating the deployment of CCS infrastructure. Finally a sensitivity analysis has indicated that the provision of petroleum tax breaks for CO 2 -EOR projects on the grounds of their emissions reduction potential is not the best use of public funds.This study provides guidance to whether or not CO 2 -EOR projects should be eligible for carbon credits as part of deployment of CCS processes. Also this study contributes by defining an appropriate framework for developing guidelines, standards, and/or best practice manuals for the permanent geological sequestration of carbon dioxide.