Examining the Current Policy Landscape of Carbon Management in Europe

The document examines the resurgence of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Europe as a critical tool for decarbonizing heavy industries and achieving Paris Agreement targets. It analyzes EU-level policies like the TEN-E Regulation and the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), alongside financing tools such as the Innovation Fund and Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The paper highlights a strategic shift toward 'carbon management hubs' to achieve economies of scale and reviews national progress in Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany, concluding that existing policy levers may be insufficient for the required scale-up.

• Carbon management is considered essential for decarbonizing 'hard-to-decarbonise' sectors such as cement, steel, and iron, as well as for producing synthetic transport fuels, because process-related emissions in some industries cannot be avoided by switching fuels.
• The European Union's current planned carbon management projects are expected to capture 26.7 Mt CO2/year by 2030, but this is far below the levels needed for climate targets, especially given that industry emissions were 800 Mt CO2 in 2019.
• A strategic shift has occurred toward developing 'carbon management hubs' and clusters, where multiple industrial facilities share CO2 transport and storage infrastructure to reduce initial costs and achieve economies of scale.
• The document argues that the TEN-E Regulation's initial proposal missed an opportunity by excluding CO2 storage facilities and certain transport methods (ships and trucks) from Project of Common Interest (PCI) status, which creates investment uncertainty.
• While the EU ETS is a cornerstone of climate strategy, its historical price volatility has made it an unreliable basis for final investment decisions; the paper suggests Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfDs) as a complementary tool to provide a guaranteed carbon price.
• Norway is the most advanced European nation in this field, operating the only two large-scale active facilities (Sleipner and Snøhvit) and investing nearly €2 billion in the Longship and Northern Lights projects to provide open-access storage for third parties.
• The UK has significant storage potential in saline aquifers and depleted reservoirs and aims to capture 10MtCO2/year by 2030 through the deployment of at least four clusters, supported by a £1 billion Infrastructure Fund.
• The Netherlands is utilizing the SDE++ subsidy to bridge the gap between installation costs and the business case, with €2.1 billion in grant money earmarked for the Porthos project in Rotterdam.
• Germany's carbon management efforts were largely halted due to public opposition and restrictive legislation (KSpG), which currently makes it impossible to start new CO2 storage projects in the country.

APA

Maver, M., & Azadegan, O. (2021). Examining the Current Policy Landscape of Carbon Management in Europe. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/28103849/CATF_CCSEuropePolicyPaper_Proof_10.20.21.pdf

Chicago

Maver, Marko, and Olivia Azadegan. Examining the Current Policy Landscape of Carbon Management in Europe. Clean Air Task Force, 2021. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/28103849/CATF_CCSEuropePolicyPaper_Proof_10.20.21.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Maver |first1=Marko |last2=Azadegan |first2=Olivia |title=Examining the Current Policy Landscape of Carbon Management in Europe |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=October 2021 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/28103849/CATF_CCSEuropePolicyPaper_Proof_10.20.21.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{maver2021examining, author = {Maver, Marko and Azadegan, Olivia}, title = {{Examining the Current Policy Landscape of Carbon Management in Europe}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/28103849/CATF_CCSEuropePolicyPaper_Proof_10.20.21.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }