Three years ago, making the case for carbon capture and storage in Brussels felt like pushing a boulder uphill. Most governments hadn't put in place the strategies, the targets, or the policies to take CCS forward. It was treated as a fringe technology. Interesting, perhaps, but not essential.
That's changed. Dramatically.
Today, CCS sits firmly on the EU policy agenda. It's recognised as a strategic tool for decarbonisation and industrial competitiveness. The Net-Zero Industry Act created, for the first time, an EU-level obligation to build CO2 storage capacity. The Commission adopted a dedicated Industrial Carbon Management Strategy, embedded CCS in its 2040 climate planning, recognised CO2 infrastructure under Trans-European Networks for Energy Regulation (TEN-E), and channelled funding into first-mover projects.
The market is moving too. According to Clean Air Task Force data, Europe now has 10 projects online with a total storage capacity of 14 million tonnes per year. At the beginning of 2025, my predecessor warned that progress had stalled. One year on, 2025 proved to be a breakout year.
So we should celebrate. And we are. Last Saturday marked three years of CCS Europe. But celebration without honesty isn't worth much.
"We need faster permitting. Stronger investment signals. A CO2 infrastructure regulation that delivers real certainty for project developers. And we need institutional stakeholders, across every relevant DG and every member state, to close the distance between political recognition and operational support." - Bergur Løkke Rasmussen, CCS Europe Director
The gap between recognition and action
We recently met with senior officials from DG CLIMA, DG ENER, DG GROW, and DG COMP to discuss the path ahead for CCS in Europe. Having all four Directorates-General around the table was significant in itself. It reflected the reality that carbon management cuts across energy, industry, competition, and climate policy simultaneously. CCS doesn't sit neatly in one DG's portfolio. It demands cross-cutting commitment.
The conversations were concrete and productive. We discussed the upcoming CO2 infrastructure regulation at length, alongside the urgent need for measures to unlock Final Investment Decisions at a time when they matter more than ever.
I left feeling encouraged, but not fully reassured. The Commission is clearly supportive of CCS. What's still missing is a joined-up operational vision for how to actually support the ramp-up of projects at the pace and scale required. The goodwill is genuine. The implementation roadmap to match it has yet to materialise.
The numbers don't lie
We're still far from the 50 million tonnes per year storage capacity target by 2030. And the longer-term picture is even more demanding: the Industrial Carbon Management Strategy calls for 280 million tonnes per year of storage by 2040. That means bringing roughly 19 to 20 million tonnes of additional capacity online every single year for the next 14 years.
Permitting delays, slow infrastructure development, and a lack of funding drivers towards Final Investment Decisions continue to be obstacles in our pursuit of a full-scale, operational European CCS ecosystem.
What we're calling for
We need faster permitting. Stronger investment signals. A CO2 infrastructure regulation that delivers real certainty for project developers. And we need institutional stakeholders, across every relevant DG and every member state, to close the distance between political recognition and operational support.
We won't decarbonise cement, lime, steel, or chemicals without CCS. Everyone in Brussels knows that now. Three years ago, they didn't. That's real progress.
But recognition alone won't cut emissions. Now is the time to move from ambition to action and to focus our energy on implementing at scale. That's what CCS Europe was created to push for. That is our boulder. And we’ll keep on pushing to new heights.
Bergur Løkke Rasmussen Director, CCS Europe