CCS Europe Newsletter 

HEADLINE NEWS

🤝 CCS meets Commissioner Jørgensen. It’s not every day our Director gets facetime with an EU Commissioner, but May was no ordinary month. Bergur sat down with Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen to talk all things CCS - from hard-to-abate sectors to hard-to-ignore infrastructure needs. With DG ENER drafting a new CO₂ transport framework, CCS Europe brought insights, ideas, and just the right amount of ambition. 

🎙️ Mes-merised by CCS. Another high-level chat saw European Commission Competitiveness Taskforce’s Daniel Mes getting the CCS lowdown. With EU industrial strategy turning up the pressure on emissions, we’re making sure CCS is on everyone’s lips. 

Poland talks carbon. Warsaw was the place to be on 27 May as the Polish Ministry of Climate hosted a major CCS workshop. CCS Europe’s Adviser, Chris Davies, took centre stage, moderating panels and pushing the case for storage in one of the EU’s top CO₂-emitting nations. Key messages? Poland has potential, but it needs policy, pipelines, and political will - ideally before 2035. A new national CCS association has been launched, and they’re already looking to us for inspiration (no pressure). 

Who’s steering the ship now? CCS Europe’s new Governing Board officially took the reins on 2 June and they mean business. With fresh leadership across industry and NGO lines, the Board will be key in steering our mission forward and amplifying our voice across EU and national stages. 

• David Berman (Air Liquide) steps in as Chair (formerly Vice-Chair) 

• Kristin Karlstad (Norsk Hydro) is Vice-Chair for Industry 

• Toby Lockwood (Clean Air Task Force) is Vice-Chair for NGOs 

A huge thank you to outgoing members Rodolphe Nicolle and Lina Strandvåg Nagell - you’ve left big shoes and even bigger footprints. Check out the full board. 

OUR ACTIVITIES

🥐 Perm Reps over pastries. On 21 May, we held a closed-door roundtable on CO₂ transport infrastructure with key Perm Reps and DG ENER. The conversation was frank: without networks, carbon capture goes nowhere. Attendees included reps from Denmark, Flanders, the Netherlands, Germany, and the Commission. Read our discussion paper. 

🏛️ Energy-intensive, and politically intense. At Renew’s European Parliament roundtable on 3 June, Bergur joined other voices calling for realism: without proper business cases, energy-intensive industries (EIIs) won’t decarbonise. CCS came under fire but we made the case for it as essential, not optional. Permitting, funding, and market creation came up again (and again). 

☕ POLITICO coffee chat. Over coffee by the Schuman roundabout, Bergur told Politico’s Louise Guillot why CCS needs teeth. With 280+ Mt CO₂ to be stored annually by 2040, time is of the essence. He pushed for market-making measures, procurement incentives, and a CCS envoy inside the Commission to coordinate efforts and cut red tape. Read the full interview in Politico’s Energy & Climate newsletter [PAYWALL]. 

At EU Carbon Pathways - a high-level event co-hosted by Bellona and CCS Europe on 4 June – Bergur opened with a clear message: CCS won’t scale without a market, and markets don’t appear on their own. He called for ambitious targets, robust funding, and stronger EU leadership to drive deployment. ▶️ Watch the recording. 

CCS DEVELOPMENTS FROM AROUND THE BLOC

🛳️ Maritime milestone: Finnish tech group Wärtsilä has made waves by launching the world’s first commercially available carbon capture system for ships. Following successful full-scale trials on Solvang ASA’s ethylene carrier Clipper Eris, the solution is now ready for the global maritime market, promising up to 70% cuts in vessel CO₂ emissions. (Bunker Spot) 

Iceland-based company leads on land: In a major EU first, Carbfix has secured the bloc’s inaugural onshore CO₂ storage permit under the CCS Directive. The license allows storage of up to 106,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually at the Hellisheiði site, amounting to 3.2 million tonnes over 30 years. Unlike all previous EU permits, which were offshore, this one marks a key step forward for land-based storage across the continent. (Carbon Herald) 

Denmark doubles down: The Danish Energy Agency has shortlisted 10 companies to compete for a massive DKK 28.7 billion (~€3.85Bn) CCS funding package, aimed at slashing national CO₂ emissions by 2.3 million tonnes per year by 2030. With funding on the line and interest high, Denmark’s leadership on CCS remains rock solid. (Energy-Pedia) 

⚠️ Growing pains: While Europe’s ambitions for CCS are sky-high, three high-profile projects are currently under pressure due to cost overruns, community resistance, and technical setbacks. With the EU targeting 280 million tonnes of storage by 2040, the road ahead may be bumpier than expected - but that only underlines the need for stronger policy support and clearer infrastructure plans. (Euronews) 

LOOKING AHEAD: JUNE 👀