The European Union is placing a significant bet on CO2 capture to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
The latest draft of the Industrial Carbon Management Plan, due on 6 February along with the EU’s 2040 emission reduction targets, reveals the crucial importance of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology in achieving climate neutrality. This approach, according to critics, could allow industries and governments to slow down efforts to reduce emissions at source by relying on a technological solution. By 2030, the EU aims for a CCS capacity of 50 million tonnes of CO₂ per year.
The rise of Carbon Capture and Storage in the EU’s plans for climate neutrality.
CCS is gaining ground in the EU’s plans to achieve climate neutrality, dispelling doubts about its feasibility as the main CO₂ capture and storage tool. These doubts are dispelled through a considerable financial and political commitment, as suggested by the anticipations of the draft Carbon Industrial Management Plan, expected soon.
EU CO₂ capture and storage targets: 450 million tonnes by 2050, 50 by 2030.
The figures outline the EU’s ambitious targets for CO₂ capture and storage. Brussels aims for a capacity of 450 million tonnes per year by 2050. The draft does not yet set an intermediate target to 2040, but a reference is the proposed 200 million tonnes by 2040 for the European Economic Area, which includes all EU countries plus Great Britain, Iceland and Norway.
Focus on the 2030 horizon: 50 million tonnes of CO₂ per year.
By 2030, the EU aims to achieve a CCS capacity of 50 million tonnes of CO₂ per year. This number corresponds to the recently proposed Net Zero Industry Act, which requires oil and gas companies to provide at least this amount of permanent storage capacity each year, at their own expense, by the end of the decade.
Towards a European Carbon Highway
For the post-2030 period (2030-2040), the EU envisages the creation of a European CO₂ transport infrastructure. This will require the identification and operation of storage sites, as well as a possible regulatory package on CO₂ transport and an ‘Investment Atlas’ to identify geological storage sites. The proposal also includes the realisation of a European carbon highway through funding from the Connecting Europe Facility, with a budget of more than EUR 20 billion. However, this project raises doubts and criticism, as turning CO₂ into a tradable commodity could lead to a slowdown of climate policies based on emission reduction.
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