Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) is not a silver bullet solution for climate change but a vital tool for reducing industrial emissions and enabling clean hydrogen production, argues Graeme Sweeney.<\/p>\n
Graeme Sweeney is the chairman of the European Zero Emission Technology and Innovation Platform (ZEP).<\/p>\n
By now, the words \u2018net-zero emissions\u2019 have been firmly planted in people\u2019s minds as synonymous with delivering the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5\u00b0C.<\/p>\n
As we approach the next climate change conference (COP24) in Poland in December, the debate around how to achieve net-zero emissions will only intensify. Earlier this year, the Zero Emission Technology and Innovation Platform (ZEP) published a report on the role of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in a below 2 degrees scenario.<\/p>\n
The report concludes that CCUS constitutes an essential part of the lowest-cost route to achieving net-zero emissions and is particularly necessary for reducing emissions in hard-to-mitigate sectors such as process industries and distributed heating.<\/p>\n
Only last week, the IPCC published their flagship 15th\u00a0special report on \u2018Global Warming of 1.5\u00b0C\u2019 which begins by stating that \u201cGlobal warming is likely to reach 1.5\u00b0C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate\u201d.<\/p>\n
The report sets out an alarming list of the increased risks and implications that a 0.5\u00b0C difference in temperature rise would entail \u2013 including increased sea level rise, an increase in extreme weather events and increased climate-related risks to health, economic growth and sustainable development.<\/p>\n
The report emphasises that all solutions will be required to meet the 1.5\u00b0C goal and models a number of pathways on how this can be achieved. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies (which include bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) and direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS)) is included in the majority of these pathways.<\/p>\n
This is based on the assumption of the likelihood that the world will overshoot the 1.5\u00b0C goal by some degree and therefore CDR technologies are required to ensure global warming is returned to 1.5\u00b0C by the end of the century.<\/p>\n
CDR is a divisive topic,\u00a0to say the least, and invokes strong support and dismissal in an almost equal measure. At ZEP\u2019s recent event \u2018Low Emission, High Ambition: A Just Transition to a Net-Zero Europe\u2019, this subject was discussed in a panel session on \u2018negative emissions: moral hazard or moral imperative?\u2019<\/p>\n
Many speakers agreed that CDR technologies can be both \u2013 a hazard and an imperative. But the take-home message from all speakers was that the need to develop CDR as an optionality for later should under no circumstance become an excuse for inaction today. This only further emphasises the urgent need to develop CCS now across industry, heat, power and transport \u2013 to ensure these sectors can fulfil their role in delivering a 1.5\u00b0C goal.<\/p>\n
In Europe, the Commission\u2019s strategy for long-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction, due to be published imminently, will set out how Europe plans to achieve net zero emissions across the economy by 2050.<\/p>\n
At the ZEP event, Christian Holzleitner from DG Climate Action stated that the Commission\u2019s vision for the long-term strategy is one that achieves climate goals, whilst ensuring no one is left behind, at the same time creating new business models, jobs, growth and investment. In our view, CCS will be critical to achieving this \u2018Just Transition\u2019.<\/p>\n
This is particularly due to the fact that whilst CCS creates new jobs and economic benefits, it also crucially helps to retain Europe\u2019s vital energy intensive and process industries in a net-zero world, helping to avoid carbon leakage.<\/p>\n
A Just Transition is also one which achieves cost-effective outcomes whilst making use of existing assets. Again, CCS is central to this criteria; both in terms of its ability to reuse onshore and offshore infrastructure (in certain circumstances) as well as making use of existing gas networks when converting to hydrogen for heating (through steam methane reforming of natural gas with CCS).<\/p>\n
The thread that ties all this together, and enables CCS and net-zero emissions to be delivered at the lowest possible cost, is infrastructure. Specifically the development of shared cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure that creates industrial CCS clusters.<\/p>\n
Such clusters allow EU regions to reconcile continued growth with achieving net-zero emissions, securing cost-effective decarbonisation in key sectors such as industry, heating and transport.
\nMeet Europe\u2019s two \u2018most exciting\u2019 CO2 capture and storage projects
\nA plan to pipe CO2 emissions from industries around the Port of Rotterdam and a hydrogen transport hub in the north of England have been branded as \u201cthe most exciting in Europe\u201d, although promoters admit both will need substantial government backing to materialise.
\nIt is of the utmost importance that this infrastructure is developed as a matter of urgent priority, to enable regions to begin delivering pathways to 1.5\u00b0C and create optionality for the future. The EU should identify initial enabling infrastructure that can quickly be expanded and extended, and ensure that EU funding schemes are fit-for-purpose in terms of being able to support infrastructure investments.<\/p>\n
At the ZEP event, guests heard from the two leading CCS cluster proposals in Europe; the Norway full-chain CCS project and the Port of Rotterdam PORTHOS project. Both of these projects represent valuable learning with large deployment potential, with the former aiming to reduce emissions in the cement and waste-to-energy industries and the latter developing a \u2018hub\u2019 for broader industrial decarbonisation in the Port of Rotterdam.<\/p>\n
A key conclusion was drawn from both presentations: these projects will not \u2018go it alone\u2019, other projects need to follow, charting a roadmap towards large-scale roll-out of CCS across Europe.<\/p>\n
Investment in follow-on projects will only be forthcoming with the right policy and funding framework in place. With regard to funding, ZEP has repeatedly recommended that funds such as the Innovation Fund be flexibly designed to enable \u2018part-chain\u2019 CCS projects to apply \u2013 this would provide an important incentive for the development of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.<\/p>\n
It is expected that the first Innovation Fund call will take place by 2020, and Christian Holzleitner confirmed that this is being designed to be much more flexible than its predecessor, NER300 \u2013 which is welcome news indeed.<\/p>\n
But the Innovation Fund alone may not be enough. Under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), cross-border CO2 transport networks are eligible for funding and projects are starting to apply. With the revised CEF legislation currently making its way through the EU institutions, there is a strong socio-economic case for bringing shared, European CO2 storage infrastructure into this framework as well.<\/p>\n
The other piece of the puzzle is policy, and the soon-to-be-published strategy for long-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction. This strategy will set the tone of EU policy discussions for the foreseeable future and it is therefore vital that it provides the strategic direction to enable investment in a broad range of zero emissions industries.<\/p>\n
Considering the crucial part that CCS will play in delivering the goals of this strategy, it is imperative that CCS is given a prominent role in the final version of the strategy.<\/p>\n
ZEP attended the recent Green Growth Platform Summit in Luxembourg on the 8th\u00a0October and it is clear that this view is shared by a wide range of member states, who have called on the Commission to ensure CCS is framed correctly \u2013 not as a silver bullet solution for climate change but as a vital tool for reducing industrial emissions and enabling clean hydrogen production.<\/p>\n
In particular, ZEP has recommended that the Commission should create a strategic plan for CO2 infrastructure development in Europe as part of the long-term strategy.<\/p>\n
There are those who believe CCS is purely a CO2 mitigation solution. While this is technically true, it is only half the story. CCS also represents a massive growth industry for Europe and, where it is included in scenarios that achieve a 2050 net-zero emissions energy system, it delivers a saving of over \u20ac1,150bn. This is one opportunity that Europe cannot afford to waste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) is not a silver bullet solution for climate change but a vital tool for reducing industrial emissions and enabling clean hydrogen production, argues Graeme Sweeney. Graeme Sweeney is the chairman of the European Zero Emission Technology and Innovation Platform (ZEP). By now, the words \u2018net-zero emissions\u2019 have been firmly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572,5571],"tags":[12296,10630],"supplier":[14045],"class_list":["post-57936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","category-co2-based","tag-ccs","tag-hydrogen","supplier-european-zero-emission-technology-and-innovation-platform-zep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57936"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=57936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}