The European Union has begun work on a key element of its plans to achieve climate neutrality by mid-century: storing captured carbon dioxide underground.
The European Commission, the bloc’s regulatory arm, is seeking public input to shape a strategy that could set infrastructure targets to store carbon in 2040 and 2050, according to documents released on Friday. It could also explore how to remove CO2 from the atmosphere as part of its climate goals.
Carbon capture and storage (and carbon removal) is a controversial technology, with environmental groups arguing that such efforts distract from the primary goal of reducing emissions. But the EU and a growing group of scientists see it as an essential technology on the path to net zero, especially for industrial sectors that are more difficult to decarbonize.
“Infrastructure is not being developed fast enough” even though the bloc’s carbon market incentivizes technological solutions, according to the consultation paper. “Most global and EU paths to climate neutrality rely heavily on industrial carbon removal.”
The consultation comes weeks after the Commission set a target of injecting 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually into geological storage sites by 2030, while forcing major oil and gas companies to contribute to the target. It is accompanied by a public consultation that seeks to establish an emissions reduction target for 2040.
Currently, less than two million metric tons of CO2 are injected into permanent storage sites in the European Economic Area each year. Carbon capture projects alone, which have already been selected to receive support from the bloc’s Innovation Fund, would require around 4.6 million tonnes of storage capacity per year by 2029.
The consultation is open until the end of August, with the strategy planned for the last quarter of this year.
