Brussels, 22 August 2024 --
Chris Davies, director of Carbon Capture & Storage Europe (CCS Europe), has issued a letter to CCS Europe members re-iterating the need to marshal support for CCS during the upcoming mandate.
The letter, issued ahead of the nomination of Commissioners-designate, begins:
'For those of us who recognise that carbon capture technology has a crucial role to play in achieving industrial decarbonisation the next few months will be vital. The new Commission must be convinced of the need to provide leadership, and to persuade Member State governments to act quickly to promote extensive carbon capture and storage deployment.'
While acknowledging the Commission's efforts to ensure that 50mt of annual CO2 storage capacity is made available within the Union by 2030, Davies writes that much more needs to be done and the key drivers will be Member State governments that recognise the need to help their industries decarbonise.
Noting his encouragement that the first Final Investment Decision for construction within the Union of a full-chain CCS project was taken, Davies remarks that 'construction of not one full-chain CCS project has commenced within the Union so far this year. There is a real danger that progress on the scale required has stalled. A huge amount of work is taking place to develop projects, but unless FIDs are taken the Commission’s 2040 “indispensable” target becomes more difficult to achieve with every passing month.'
Davies closes by calling on the new Commission to appoint a carbon capture envoy:
'The new Commissioners will have a huge role to play in shaping the climate agenda and promoting policies that can help industry curb its emissions. But we have to recognise that they will have busy agendas and will not have the time to engage individually with Member State governments to promote and encourage adoption of national measures to drive forward CCS deployment. This is why CCS Europe calls on the Commission to appoint a carbon capture envoy, or coordinator, as suggested in its February Communication, to support the early development of infrastructure projects.'