Nov.26, 2021

You will find below the full text of the letter signed by Negative Emissions Platform, Bellona, Clean Air Task Force, EPICo, Future Cleantech Architects and 1.5 Ventures.

Recognising the importance of carbon capture and storage technologies to reach climate neutrality

Dear Commissioner Simson,

On behalf of the undersigned, we would first like to congratulate you on hosting the much welcome and needed High-Level CCUS Forum on October 11th. As CCS moves from planning to deployment, in part with the aid of the EU Innovation Fund, such an annual forum is critical to bring together stakeholders from across society including academia, industry, local and national government, labour unions, as well as NGOs. As NGOs and representatives of civil society, we would like to express our support for an annual CCUS Forum and call for further actions from the European Commission to ensure the timely deployment of carbon capture and storage for climate neutrality. We call for an annual EU CCUS Forum to build a coherent narrative and inspection of industrial decarbonisation and industrial CCS. The CCUS Forum should take place on a regular basis to provide the impetus and direction necessary to ensure carbon capture and storage are efficiently deployed. It would be helpful for the Forum to develop topic-specific working groups meeting several times during the year for in-depth discussions and exchanges on key issues requiring attention and debates among the stakeholders We call for a European Strategy for CO2 capture, transport and storage networks for robust, cooperative and equitable industrial decarbonisation. The Innovation Fund selection has shown that CCS projects develop in areas with access to CO2 transport and Storage. The Commission thought coordination and planning can aid other European regions to develop and connect to CO2 transport and Storage network; increasing the options and resilience for industrial decarbonisation in all European regions. To this end a clear strategy for carbon capture and storage led by DG ENER is needed in order to provide the necessary signals to investors and Member States. A comprehensive CO2 capture, transport and storage strategy would ensure that these technologies are coherently taken into consideration in the various relevant EU policies and that barriers to their development and deployment are efficiently identified and dealt with. We call for targeted support for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) system demonstration in the Innovation Fund. Permanently removing CO2 from the atmosphere (CDR) will be a necessity of climate neutrality, in addition to annual steep emissions reductions. Developing robust carbon accounting, sustainability criteria, and certification for CDR is a critical first step and for this Europe need high quality front-runner projects. Crucially, the synergies across the CO2 transport and storage value chain, could unlock cost reductions and economies of scale for both the deployment of CDR and industrial carbon capture technologies. Demonstrating full chain “atmosphere to storage” CDR projects before 2030 will allow Europe to develop an understanding of the challenges, accounting, and removal potential of CDR. 

We call for Horizon Europe to bring European innovation from the lab to industrial deployment. Europe is a leader in innovative CO2 capture, CO2 conversion and CO2 storage technologies, with more than a decade of sustained research and development. Moving from R&D to real world demonstration is critical to capitalise on innovations, moving European know how from the lab to be commercially deployed in the Net-Zero Economy. To this end we call on the Commission to continue and enhance support for real world demonstration and pilot projects through Horizon Europe.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. 

Download the Letter to Commissioner Kadri Simson.