An enabling framework for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Europe: An overview of key issues. CEPS Policy Brief No 2019/03, 23 September 2019

here are few credible scenarios for reaching the EU’s long-term climate policy objectives, such as net-zero by 2050, without the large-scale deployment of CCS technology. Carbon capture and storage technology is a pre-requisite for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries, which in the EU are responsible for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, carbon capture technologies have only been tested at smaller scales and are not yet available at scale for the multiple energy-intensive industries that need them. To prepare for largerscale CCS deployment in the period after 2030, steps should be taken today to address economic as well as political barriers, and thereby support development of key infrastructure and technology. In doing so, policy should focus on improving the investment case for both CCS as well as low carbon industrial products that carbon capture makes possible. This includes specific financing models that account for the high capital intensity of CCS, regional variation in industrial clusters, infrastructure and storage availability as well as the need to combine both private and public money