CCS Europe has published its position paper in response to the European Commission’s Industrial Carbon Management Strategy (ICMS).

The communication identifies carbon capture and storage technologies as an indispensable technology to achieve the EU’s net neutrality climate objectives by 2050. To achieve this target, the Commission estimates that 280 million tonnes of CO2 will have to be captured and stored by 2040 in order to reach 90% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions . By 2050, this number will have to reach 450 Mt.

In its position paper, CCS Europe calls for six policy actions to be taken forward:

1. Political Leadership. Member States and the Commission should work together to develop more political leadership towards the rollout of national CCS strategies at Member States’ level.

2. Strengthening the business case for CCS investment. The Commission should develop and publish a low-carbon strategy. This will increase the potential of market development towards products and molecules manufactured using CCS technologies.

3. A regulatory framework to support CCS deployment. The Commission should come up with a regulatory proposal that supports CO2 transport and storage infrastructure across Europe.

4. Comprehensive financing support. One of the largest obstacles to the scale-up of CCS technology is funding. The Commission should therefore put a comprehensive financing support ecosystem into place to allow for the development of CCS projects.

5. A comprehensive carbon removal policy. The Commission must develop a distinct and separate carbon removal target, as well as a concrete approach for the integration of carbon removals within the existing EU climate policy framework.

6. Public perception. To increase public acceptance on CCS, the Commission must develop a communication toolkit and guidelines on how project developers can best engage with local communities to ensure their support.

Download the position paper here.