On 25 May, CCS Europe held a breakfast briefing inviting the Permanent Representations to the EU to discuss the European Commission’s Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and the role that CCS can play to decarbonise the most energy intensive industries, thus achieving the EU's climate neutrality objectives by 2050.
NZIA is currently being discussed at the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union is an opportunity to remove the obstacles that have prevented carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment across Europe. The most important articles in the NZIA proposal may prove to concern the storage of CO2, yet most Member States are not aware of the implications and opportunities presented in this regulation. The breakfast briefing brought to light the key proposals of CCS Europe members to amend the proposal, at a time when the Council will reach its first position by 1 July, ahead of the negotiations with the European Parliament.
CCS Europe members stressed:
- Energy-intensive industries are unable to decarbonise without CCS
- Storage target of 50Mt CO2 needs future predictability beyond 2030
- Need to include transport link provisions and facilitate permitting
- Avoid overly prescriptive CO2 storage purity requirements
- Urgency to demystify safety concerns regarding CCS technology
We look forward continuing exchanging with EU institutions on how best to amend the NZIA proposal and keep highlighting the crucial need of CCS to achieve net zero ambitions.