The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in March 2023 that the European Union must be placing into permanent storage 300 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2050.  Many believe this to be an underestimate of the requirement if the ambition of net-zero emissions is to be achieved.

As of today, no CO2 at all is being captured for permanent storage within the EU.

CCS Europe is an advocacy and communications body supported by technology providers, project developers, industry and environmental NGOs, who share a commitment to achieve significant reductions in CO₂ emissions.

CCS Europe’s objective is to secure recognition of the urgent need to deploy carbon capture technologies to curb CO₂ emissions from industrial sources and reduce CO₂ already within the atmosphere.

CCS Europe will work to encourage European and national policymakers to introduce regulatory and financial instruments that can stimulate the necessary investment.

The focus of CCS Europe will be energy-intensive and hard-to-abate industry that cannot eliminate CO₂ emissions other than by capture.

The vast majority of CO₂ captured must be permanently stored in deep geological formations to ensure that it never enters the atmosphere.  Some quantities of CO₂ may also be used in industrial processes that make a contribution to reducing overall emissions.

Our priority is to secure the rapid deployment of carbon capture technologies to curb CO₂ emissions from industry and other hard-to-abate sources.