There is speculation that the Industrial Carbon Management Strategy to be published on 6 February may include a proposal for the appointment of a CCS 'envoy' (aka 'Tsar') to help support and accelerate CCS deployment.

No mention of this was made in the draft that has been widely leaked, but it seems that the Commission has made a number of changes since then.

The 'envoy' might be a single point of reference to all with CCS interests, perhaps helping projects if EU Member States unreasonably delay permitting procedures, or arguing the case for hard-to-abate industry sectors in countries that have avoided giving serious thought to CCS deployment.

Leadership and drive is certainly needed if the huge CCS scale up is to be achieved within the timescales envisaged.

We look forward to reading the document closely when it appears next Tuesday.