News

European parliamentarians recognise CCS significance

Photo: European Union
Photo: European Union

Publish date: April 14, 2014

The EEA Joint Parliamentary Committee recently adopted two resolutions, one of which concerns climate and energy. The resolution, which aims to be a contribution to the ongoing debate on the 2030 framework for climate and energy policies, highlights CCS as a technology that is needed to help meeting Europe’s climate policy targets.

The Committee, which is an advisory body that comprises members of the national parliaments of the EEA EFTA States (Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) and Members of the European Parliament, meets twice a year to discuss issues relevant to the cooperation between the two sides. It expresses its views in form of resolutions addressed to the EEA institutions, to the European Parliament and to the parliaments of Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

The adopted resolution underlines the importance for the EEA EFTA states to engage with the EU in the entire process of elaborating the 2030 climate and energy framework.

CCS is among the issues specifically highlighted by the Committee in the resolution. It acknowledges that fossil fuels will continue to be part of the future energy mix. Therefore, “[t]echnologies to capture and safely store CO2 will be needed in order to help meeting climate policy targets”. The signals from the Commission on financial support for CCS after 2020 are thus welcomed.

Moreover, the Committee welcomes the proposed 40 % emissions reduction below 1990 levels, an increased share of renewable energy and high energy efficiency ambitions both at EU and national level.

The resolution can be found here.