The role of CCUS on the EU road to climate neutrality

The EU has decided to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. While energy efficiency and renewable energy must and will remain the foundation of the EU’s future energy priorities, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) will be necessary to achieve this 2050 objective, notably during the transition. In some sectors with hard-to-abate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as cement, this is the only option for decarbonisation, and in other energy-intensive areas it will be needed for affordable GHG reductions during the energy transition period. CCUS using biomethane could also deliver negative emissions and be an important carbon sink. Finally, the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) for producing low-carbon hydrogen could provide significant cost savings, again during the energy transition.

Despite the implementation of Directive 2009/31/EC ‘On the geological storage of carbon dioxide,’ the use of CCUS has been slow. Strong leadership by the European Commission is needed.

The adoption of a European Strategy for CCUS and a European Commission initiative to catalyse CO2 infrastructure could provide this necessary step change.