BRUSSELS, June 9 (Reuters) – The European Commission is
working on plans to speed up investment in capturing and storing
carbon dioxide emissions, it said on Friday, as the bloc
prepares to slash its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by
2050.
In a public consultation on the plans, the Commission said
infrastructure to capture and store CO2 underground or use it in
industries was not developing fast enough, hampered by factors
including high costs to develop storage sites.
To try and boost the industry, the Commission said it will
produce an EU strategy that could include 2040 and 2050 targets
for CO2 storage infrastructure, or EU-wide standards on CO2
quality and access to carbon capture infrastructure.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are in their
infancy in the EU and have a history of controversy in countries
including Germany, where states blocked past efforts to launch
projects. Some campaign groups have also opposed the technology
on the grounds that it could be used to extend the life of coal
power plants and polluting industries.
But plans to remove CO2 from the atmosphere have regained
some traction as countries map out how to achieve net zero
emissions – which will require some CO2 removals to balance out
remaining emissions from industries that cannot reduce their CO2
output to zero, like aviation or agriculture.
“Emission reduction remains the highest priority of EU
climate policies,” the Commission document said.
The EU already has targets in place requiring countries to
expand forests and other natural ecosystems that can absorb and
store CO2.
Brussels proposed a target in March for the EU to be able to
store 50 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, and has said
this may need to reach 550 million tonnes by 2050 to hit the
bloc’s net zero emissions goal.
For comparison, the EU’s total CO2 emissions from energy use
were nearly 2.4 billion tonnes in 2022, according to Eurostat
data.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
