An Action Plan for Carbon Capture

The EU needs a CCS Envoy

Ursula von der Leyen's re-election as Commission President signals continuity for EU climate policy. Over the past two years, she has overseen the development of the Industrial Carbon Management Strategy and the passage of the Net-Zero Industry Act, both marking significant advancements towards climate neutrality. While these initiatives are important steps, they are not sufficient to meet the EU's climate ambitions. In the next five years, crucial work [add hyperlink to full blog post] on carbon capture is necessary to achieve climate neutrality goals. Therefore, we call for President von der Leyen to appoint a full-time CCS Envoy dedicated to this task.

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Our priorities for the next European mandate

Secure political support for CCS deployment in Member States

The European Commission has declared CCS “indispensable” in the green transition. Yet too many governments across Europe still have no strategy to promote its deployment.

To secure domestic political support for CCS, we call for: 

  1. An EU CCS Envoy to drive CCS forward in national capitals; and 
  2. detailed carbon capture strategies to be included in every Member State’s national energy and climate plans (NECPs).

Strengthen the business case for CCS investment

The funding gap between the current state of play and future ambition requires the EU to closely work with industry to jointly develop actions to unlock the deployment of current and future projects with maximum urgency. We call for:

  1. the set-up of an EU CCS industrial alliance;
  2. more financial support mechanisms in Member States; and
  3. streamlined and enhanced EU funding.

A regulatory framework to support CCS deployment

Targets for capture and storage need to be supported by a robust regulatory framework. We call for action in:

  1. transport, to encourage an EU-wide CO2 transport network; 
  2. storage, to address technical and regulatory barriers that can hinder the development of operational storage capacity;
  3. negative emissions, and ETS-style payments for when negative emissions are demonstrated; and
  4. low carbon products, requiring a wide range of materials to include a proportion of low-carbon content.

A lever for economic growth

Carbon capture is not only a necessary solution to curb emissions but also has the potential to be a lever for economic growth in Europe. Some of Europe’s most significant industries will be reliant on CCS to curb their emissions in the absence of a cost-effective and efficient alternative to carbon capture. 

Hundreds of carbon capture plants must be built over the next decade together with the associated transport and storage infrastructure. By some estimates, the establishment of a global CCS industry could lead to the creation of up to 140,000 new jobs associated with construction and facility operations by 2050.

The Challenge

The EU has set itself on an ambitious pathway to decarbonise its economy by the middle of the century. Achievement of this net-zero climate ambition by 2050 will require the considerable quantities of CO2 emitted by industrial processes to be captured and permanently stored.

A significant number of carbon capture and storage projects across Europe are now being developed. Yet very few are in operation or even under construction. The business case for industry to encourage investment in CCS is still largely absent, given the upfront costs involved along the entire value chain.