Media Releases
European High-Level Conference brings momentum to the need for more ambitious carbon capture action in Europe
5th September 2019
Location(s): Brussels
The European Commission and the Norwegian Government joined forces to organise the European High-Level Conference on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Oslo today. The event will gather European climate and energy Ministers, UN’s climate chief, senior government officials, industry and NGO representatives as well as union bodies to discuss the role and future of CCS in Europe. The conference will also be an opportunity to jointly address how to support the deployment of the technology to deliver Europe’s ambitious climate targets.
Participating at the high-level event, the Global CCS Institute is represented by Mr Claude Mandil, Chairman of the Institute and former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.
“This conference sends a clear message that the European Commission and Norway are committed to deploying CCS to deliver a climate neutral economy in Europe. This will only be possible by creating a supportive policy framework and a clear action plan to scale-up CCS facilities and infrastructure,” said Mr Mandil. “The window of opportunity is closing, and it is urgent to support CCS with a policy framework that enables the scale-up of investment in this crucial technology and ensures commercial viability and sustainability of future projects. Europe can be a leader in responding to climate change and CCS is a proven and safe technology that needs to be part of solution to tackle this global challenge. There is a pressing need for urgent and concerted European action on CCS.”
The European Commission’s long-term strategic vision for a climate neutral future calls for action on CCS to tackle CO2 emissions in hard-to-abate sectors. CCS is a part of the seven strategic building blocks presented by the Commission that together can effectively deliver a climate-neutral economy by 2050.
At conference, leaders will address how to support the commercial and large-scale deployment of CCS in Europe and look into international examples of success.
There are currently two operating large-scale CCS facilities in Europe, both located in Norway. They have been operating respectively since 1996 and 2008. There are an additional nine large-scale CCS facilities in different stages of development in the Netherlands, Ireland and UK. These projects will facilitate the decarbonisation of important industrial clusters and capture of CO2 emissions from hydrogen production and other industrial facilities such as cement plants.
Further information about the conference can be found here.