The Quiet Rise of Carbon Capture in Europe

For all the discussions on abatement and mitigation, one truth remains central to our current climate conundrum: we do not know how to bring emissions to zero. Technical or economic barriers have yet to be overcome to fully decarbonise the economy but the planet does not have time to wait for us to figure out the equation. This is where carbon capture and storage comes in.

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Capturing carbon emissions to store them in geological deposits such as the depleted oil and gas fields of the North Sea has long been anathema in the European Union. Safety concerns about the transportation and long-term sealing even led Germany to outright ban the technology until recently. At a more structural level, a deeply hesitant approach to the technology has always prevailed.

On one hand, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the broader scientific community have deemed Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) essential for reaching net-zero emissions. For certain industries that face steep technical or economic barriers to decarbonization, capturing emissions remains a crucial component in achieving carbon neutrality. 

On the other hand, CCS has often been dismissed as a “magic bullet” in climate transition scenarios as the technology is not yet mature. As of 2023, just 37 CCS facilities existed worldwide, mostly for research and using vastly different technological options. Critics argue that investment in CCS diverts resources from more straightforward emissions-reducing efforts, like electrification.

Yet a paradigm shift is silently taking place in Europe. 

Since the beginning of this decade, the EU Commission has been trying to pass legislation that would allow carbon capture to be valued on the European carbon market. The wake-up call came with the gas crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. To offset missing Russian gas deliveries, coal power plants ramped up production (and emissions). This sent prices spiralling on carbon markets with dire consequences for industrials all over Europe.

Most of what happened afterwards has been going on under the radar as more pressing matters filled the agenda and as political turmoil engulfed the continent following EU and US elections. Nonetheless, in less than two years, the Commission has built on previous initiatives and proposed an industrial carbon management strategy based on the development of CCS. 

On national stages, things are also moving quickly despite instabilities in France and Germany. The latter overturned its ban on CCS in May 2024 and is now contemplating offshore storage in the North Sea. It has also allowed the federal states to authorise onshore storage should they wish to. 

Meanwhile, France has been working actively on the topic in the framework of the update of its national low-carbon strategy and has launched in May 2024 its first call for expression of interest for industrial CCS.

It is all the more surprising that the hearings of the future European Commissioners in front of the European Parliament did not go further in details concerning carbon capture. It has been hinted at by both Stéphane Séjourné, vice-president-designate for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy and Wopke Hoekstra, EU commissioner for Climate Action, that the upcoming Clean Industrial Deal would address the topic. This crucial piece of legislation is at the heart of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s political agenda and should encompass a specific act on industrial decarbonization. 

Judging from the current political equation in the European Parliament, one could argue that the upcoming Commissioners are trying to strike a balance between pressures to alleviate the burden of the transition and the requirements of the climate crisis. Not going into details is a way to avoid ruffling feathers when approvals are still underway and far from acquired. However, Europe has a critical role to play in developing CCS technologies as its carbon-neutrality agenda is the most advanced one. 

According to campaign promises, the US could be pulling out of the Paris agreement again in the near future, while China has committed to climate neutrality only in the second half of the century. This provides Europe with a strategic opportunity to develop a lasting first-mover advantage in this field, as a complement to an indispensable emissions reduction roadmap.