Commenting on the Plan, Dr. Graeme Sweeney, Chairman of the Zero Emissions Platform, said:
“Today’s announcement from the Dutch Government represents an important milestone for the development of CCS in Europe. In particular, the commitment to CCS could pave the way towards a broader, large-scale European CCS hub which is vital for reducing emissions from Europe’s industrial and power sectors at least cost.
ZEP has previously concluded that without CCS it will cost an additional €1.2 trillion to reach the EU’s CO2 reduction target for the power sector alone – whereas many energy intensive industries would simply not be able to achieve the necessary emissions reductions required by the Paris Agreement.
The importance of the ROAD CCS project has also been highlighted in the Plan. Once operational, this project could kick-start a new European CCS industry and help create sustainable, low-carbon jobs in some of Europe’s most energy intensive regions.
Creating a large-scale European CCS hub requires early development of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure. With the Netherlands and Norway now moving forward with CCS, we urge the European Commission to ensure that EU policies and financial instruments are ready to support the deployment of this vital infrastructure”.