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Towards an ambitious Industrial Carbon Management for the EU
Conclusiones del comunicado:
To reach climate neutrality by 2050 and provide EU economy with all the means to reach the 2040 climate ambition, the EU needs to develop a common and comprehensive policy and investment framework for all aspects of industrial carbon management. Industrial carbon management will be needed to complement mitigation efforts for hard-to-abate emissions and to achieve negative emissions after 2050.
The technological solutions to capture, transport, use and store CO2 are available, but they need to be rolled out commercially and at scale, both in existing industries and to start removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Yet, companies that deploy them today identify high costs of carbon capture, storage and use, and multi-faceted market failures that need to be addressed with an integrated European approach to industrial carbon management.
Many Member States have mapped theoretical geological storage sites, but these sites now need to be turned into bankable CO2 storage capacity. This requires not only investments, but also building a broad public understanding that storing CO2 underground can be a reliable climate solution and a profitable business. It also requires putting in place CO2 transport infrastructure.
Once captured, CO2 becomes a valuable commodity, especially if it is captured from bio-sources or the atmosphere. It should be used more widely in manufacturing processes, in particular for chemicals and plastics that today use crude oil and natural gas, as well as the production of sustainable fuels to tackle hard-to-abate transport.
To create an ambitious industrial carbon management in the EU, support is needed for projects that use these technologies and share knowledge. Member States and the Commission need to work together to develop and put in place the policy framework needed to increase certainty for investors, while engaging local communities in areas where geological CO2 storage can be used to help the economy decarbonise.
All such solutions must first and foremost produce real and quantifiable benefits for citizens, the environment and the climate. With this Strategy, industrial carbon management is a legitimate and economically promising pathway for the EU towards climate-neutrality by 2050. Concerted efforts of the Commission, Member States, industry, citizen groups, research communities, social partners and other stakeholders will be essential to its swift implementation.
Deploying transport infrastructure for a single market for CO2
The Commission foresees to:
from 2024, initiate preparatory work in view of a proposal for a possible future CO2 transport regulatory package; it will consider issues including market and cost structure, cross-border integration and planning, technical harmonisation and investment incentives for new infrastructure, third-party access, competent regulatory authorities, tariff regulation and ownership models.
from 2024, work towards proposing an EU-wide CO2 transport infrastructure planning mechanism in cooperation with Member States and the CCUS Forum stakeholder platform. The work related to network planning will also assess to what extent it is possible to reuse/repurpose existing infrastructure for CO2 transport and storage, when considering the priority for infrastructure needs of renewable gases, and if so, what regulatory changes are needed.
from 2024, consider, in close engagement with industry, nominating European coordinators to support the early development of (cross-border) infrastructure projects.
develop emissions accounting rules in the context of the EU ETS to enable all means of transport of CO2, and ensure liability for leakage.
work with the European standardisation bodies to establish minimum standards for CO2 streams to be used in a network code, applicable to all industrial carbon management solutions, and in addition in cooperation with Member States to consider guidelines on ‘incidental associated substances” to ensure the integrity of the infrastructure and reservoirs.
promote through the International Maritime Organization the development of any necessary guidelines on safe transportation of CO2 by sea.
Capturing and storing CO2 emissions instead of releasing to the atmosphere
The Commission foresees to:
develop, with Member States, by early 2026 at the latest, a platform for demand assessment and demand aggregation for CO2 transport or storage services, with the aim of matching CO2 suppliers with storage and transport providers and providing contract and procurement transparency
aim to create and make available by early 2026, in cooperation with the geological services of the EEA, an investment atlas of potential CO2 storage sites based on a common storage readiness level format.
use the knowledge-sharing Platform for industrial CCUS projects to develop together with industry sectoral roadmaps for industrial carbon management.
develop, with Member States, by 2025 step-by-step guidance for permitting processes for net-zero strategic projects for CO2 storage, notably regarding: o the transfer of responsibility from operators back to the competent authorities and the corresponding financial security and financial mechanism requirements; o transparency on the permitting requirements and risk-based approaches to facilitate final investment decisions by storage operators. Member States should:
include in their updated National Energy and Climate Plans their assessment of capture needs and storage capacity/options and identify actions to support the deployment of a CCS value chain.
by 2025, ensure that they have transparent processes in place for storage permit applicants to engage with the competent authorities during the preparatory phase.
from 2024 onwards, support the development and roll out of cooperative net-zero strategic projects under the NZIA to create full carbon capture, transport and storage value chains, including across borders.
by 2025 at the latest, enable their geological services to contribute existing data and to generate new data to contribute to an EEA-wide investment atlas of potential CO2 storage sites.
Removing CO2 from the atmosphere
The Commission foresees to:
assess overall objectives for carbon removals needs in line with the EU’s 2040 climate ambition and the goal to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and negative emissions thereafter.
develop policy options and support mechanisms for industrial carbon removals, including if and how to account for them in the EU ETS.
in parallel, boost EU research, innovation and early-of-a-kind demonstration for novel industrial technologies to remove CO2 under Horizon Europe and the Innovation Fund.
Using captured CO2 as a resource to replace fossil fuels in industrial production
The Commission foresees to:
assess demand pull options, in concertation with industries, to increase the uptake of sustainable carbon as a resource in industrial sectors in full consideration of the Commission’s upcoming Biotech and Biomanufacturing initiative.
use the knowledge-sharing Platform for industrial CCUS projects to co-develop with industries sector specific roadmaps on CCU activities.
draw up a coherent framework to account for all industrial carbon management activities that accurately reflect the climate benefits across their value chains, and to incentivise the deployment of innovative and sustainable permanent and non- permanent CCU applications, while removing barriers.
Investing and funding the clean carbon transition
The Commission foresees to:
work, as of 2024, with Member States in the transparent and coordinated design of a possible important project of common European interest for CO2 transport and storage infrastructure via the JEF-IPCEI. To start the process as soon as possible, use the existing CCUS Forum platform to ensure good coordination, set the timing, monitor progress and maintain the pace of the project. Consider establishing a dedicated high- level platform to work beyond 2030.
assess by 2025 whether certain CO2 capture installations, such as cement or lime production facilities, are mature enough and sufficient competition may be expected to move from project-based grant support to a market-based funding mechanisms, such as competitive bidding auctions as a service under the Innovation Fund.
engage, as of 2024, with the European Investment Bank on financing of CCS and CCU projects.
facilitate investment needs in industrial carbon management up to 2040 and 2050, including by making smart use of public funding to leverage private investment.
Public awareness
The Commission foresees to:
work with Member States to specify operating conditions for CO2 transport and storage projects that can reward local communities for hosting them.
work with Member States and industry to increase knowledge, awareness and public debate on industrial carbon management.
Research and innovation
The Commission foresees to:
support a new collaboration and knowledge-sharing platform for industrial CCUS projects.
continue to invest in R&I for industrial carbon management technologies, including energy and cost efficiency optimisation of processes and pre-normative research to contribute to standardisation.
Cross-border and international cooperation
The Commission foresees to:
work towards accelerated international cooperation to promote harmonised reporting and accounting of industrial carbon management activities, to ensure they are accurately accounted for under the UNFCCC transparency framework;
work to ensure that internationally carbon pricing frameworks focus on the necessary emissions cuts while providing for carbon removals to tackle emissions in the hard-to- abate sectors.
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