With direct emissions from EU industries in 2010 accounting for 25% of total EU CO2 emissions and energy efficiency measures insufficient to reduce these emissions significantly, only CCS will enable the EU to deliver its long-term climate goals and retain a strong industrial base.
Additionally, industrial sectors need financial support to develop CCS and remain competitive globally.
ZEP strongly backs the Commission in its efforts to support EU industries – not least due to their vital contribution to employment and welfare – but underlines the need to ensure this strategy is well-aligned with EU climate ambitions. According to the EU low-carbon economy roadmap for 2050, emissions reductions will be required in all sectors of the economy, with CO2 emissions from industrial sectors cut by 34% to 40% by 2030 and by 83% to 87% by 2050.
ZEP has therefore been working with energy-intensive industries to develop a landmark report on the role CCS must play in the decarbonisation of their sectors. Published by ZEP today, it provides a high-level overview of the challenges and opportunities – plus a set of recommendations to EU policymakers on how to facilitate large-scale deployment. This includes the need for strong financial support to enable industrial sectors to demonstrate and deploy CCS while remaining competitive globally.
The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) therefore welcomes DG CLIMA Director-General Jos Delbeke’s support for the large-scale deployment of low-carbon technologies in Europe’s energy-intensive industries in his speech at the 2013 European Steel Day. This is a clear signal that the decarbonisation of the EU economy should not happen through the relocation of industry – but through green innovation and technology.
The Commission has followed up with an EU Steel Action Plan, which specifically names CCS as a key decarbonisation technology for the sector and underlines the need for an “industrial scale demonstration project of producing steel with CCS”. It also highlights the need for financial support instruments in order to proceed to demonstration and deployment, “for instance a new NER 300 call, a further European Energy programme for Recovery, or the use of structural funds”.
Finally, ZEP welcomes signals from the European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) in its latest (19th June) vote on the so-called ‘back-loading’ of emission unit allowances (EUAs) in the EU ETS.
The ENVI call for two-thirds of the EUAs that the Commission has proposed to remove from the carbon market (and freeze for later auctioning) to be “made available to set up a fund to support the development of innovative low-carbon technologies, demonstration projects and measures intended to reduce the costs and carbon emissions of energy-intensive industries”. This aligns with Director-General Delbeke’s and the Commission’s call to facilitate the demonstration and deployment of CCS in energy-intensive industries.
ZEP says it would welcome continued cooperation between relevant industries, the Commission, other EU institutions and Member States in order to ensure the development of the crucial infrastructure highlighted by Delbeke, identify technology synergies – and ensure an ambitious policy and regulatory framework for large-scale CCS deployment in Europe.