The European Commission launched a public consultation on a new legislative initiative for CO₂ markets and infrastructure, as part of the EU strategy for industrial decarbonisation. The Green Tank submitted its views, stressing that the development of CO₂ markets and infrastructure can play a meaningful role in the industrial transition only if it is strictly limited to processes that are genuinely hard to decarbonise.
Key points of our submission include:
- The need for a binding and fully harmonised EU-wide regulatory framework, with common technical standards and robust safety rules across the entire CCS value chain.
- Avoiding the widespread use of CCS in sectors that can be decarbonised through other solutions, such as electrification, energy efficiency and fuel switching.
- Limiting access to EU funding and CO₂ markets exclusively to projects addressing hard-to-abate processes, based on clear criteria that prevent locking highly polluting sectors into fossil fuels.
- Integrating environmental and social criteria into the planning of CO₂ infrastructure, beyond purely cost-based considerations.
- Supporting the development of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies, through rules that do not undermine them in favour of geological storage and that ensure a genuine contribution to emissions reductions.
- Ensuring coordinated planning of cross-border CO₂ networks at EU level, integrated into overall energy system planning, ensuring the avoidance of fossil-fuel lock-in and prioritising clean energy sources.
- Guaranteeing transparency, meaningful involvement of local communities, and targeted, temporary public funding linked to verifiable emissions reductions.
Read the full comments submitted by The Green Tank to the public consultation here.
