CCS Europe Newsletter 

HEADLINE NEWS

That don’t impress us much 🤠 Written answers from the Commissioners-Designate to MEP questions ahead of the much anticipated (!?) hearings were finally published… sparking a Shania-inspired reaction at CCS Europe HQ for the lack of mentions of CCS.

Leading horses to water… October saw the announcement of a number of new funding programmes for CCS. From the Danish Energy Agency to the Innovation Fund, with a bonus RRF-backed Greek State aid scheme, finally we are seeing some momentum on the financing front.  A fund-amental first step to bridge the gap between targets and action, but money alone won’t sequester carbon. Up to the new college to make those horses drink.

We wrote you a letter: Coordinated with our friends at the Zero Emissions Platform, earlier in the month we sent our Liebe Frau Präsident a gentle reminder of the centrality of industrial carbon management to Europe’s decarbonisation and industrial resilience, signed by 51 business leaders from European industry (and civil society).

OUR ACTIVITIES

The hunt for a CCS Champion in the EP continues

Oh, European Parliament. Precious bastion of democracy. Home to the only (directly) elected EU-level representatives… and to the champions of Europe’s burgeoning CCS industry. Well, that’s our ambition, anyway. That’s why we have been doubling down on our efforts to find CCS Champions in the EP.

We met with 5 MEPs and their brilliant APAs throughout the month of October, focusing on potential avenues for future collaboration. We discussed the possibility of co-hosting events together in the future, the Commissioner hearings, and some of the key obstacles to CCS. A positive common thread from all of this schmoozing: discussions on CCS are increasingly less partisan. In our search for a champion, we have cast the net far and wide, meeting with MEPs from the EPP to the Greens and finding receptive attitudes in all camps.

We (still) need to talk about CCS

Although you could argue that it’s what we’ve been doing for *checks notes* almost two years already, we are happy to unveil a new blog post under the title ‘We need to talk about CCS’ – the first in what will be a four-part explainer series, that tackles the question of why we need CCS (in spite of a horde of cries to the contrary).

Written by the CCS Europe HQ’s resident expert, Madec Austern, the piece offers an accessible explanation as to why CCS is indispensable to decarbonising European industry when there’s no alternative. Check out the piece, and stay tuned as we cover capture, transport and storage.

Spreading the word

In October, our indefatigable journeyman CCS Advocate-in-Chief, Chris Davies, was hard at work touring Europe to, well, advocate for CCS. He started the month by participating in the ICM Forum (both as a moderator and as part of side event “How to Make CCS Happen”) in Pau, France. He was then invited as a panelist to the Fertilizers Europe’s Annual Conference “The Future of Agriculture and Food Production in the EU” in Brussels, before finishing the month in Lithuania for the CCS/CCUS Innovation conference. There really is no distracting Chris from our mission to make CCS happen.

The clock’s ticking for ICM in the EU.

Or at least, that’s what 51 leaders from Europe’s foremost industries and civil society organisations, CCS Europe and the Zero Emission Platform wrote to Ursula von der Leyen in their aforementioned letter. The leaders urge the Commission President to beef up her commitment to CCS with an EU-level CCS Action Plan, or else (risk climate change getting the better of us). The CCS Action Plan calls for:

In case you missed it, have a read of the full letter here.

CCS EUROPE IN THE PRESS 🗞️

Mentions In chronological order:

Euronews quoted Chris in their coverage of the ICM Forum in Pau, where he expressed his hope that the EU27 would publish thorough and actionable national industrial carbon management strategies as soon as they can. We’re waiting…

Then, our letter got picked up by Contexte, who re-iterated our grave concern at the apparent institutional inertia when it comes to Industrial Carbon Management.

Finally, Carbon Pulse published Chris’ comment on a Greek State aid programme that will be instrumental in creating storage capacity for Greece and the region (more on this below).

CCS DEVELOPMENTS FROM AROUND THE BLOC

As good CCS advocates should, the team at CCS Europe HQ has been keeping our beady eye on the news for interesting developments across the bloc. Here are our top three picks for September:

#1: European Commission Approves €150 Million in RRF Aid for Greek Carbon Storage Project in Prinos (European Commission)

The European Commission has approved a €150 million Greek initiative under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to support a carbon storage facility in Prinos, aligning with Greece's climate goals and the EU’s Green Deal. The project will initially support a pipeline capable of transporting up to 1 million tonnes of CO₂ per year from industrial sources to an offshore storage site, with future expansion to 2.5 million tonnes.

#2: Denmark launches €3.8bn fund for CCS Market Development (Enerdata)

Denmark has launched a DKK28.7 billion (€3.8 billion) fund to advance carbon capture and storage (CCS) by 2029, aiming to cut CO₂ emissions by 2.3 million tonnes annually by 2030. The 15-year contracts will fund CO₂ capture, transport, and storage from various sources.

#3: Commissioner Hoekstra commits to the development of a single market for carbon removals (ENDS Europe)

European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has committed to establishing a unified market for carbon removals within the EU. This initiative aims at standardising the certification of carbon removal methods.

LOOKING AHEAD: NOVEMBER 👀