ZEP has come forth with a plan of action for how CO₂ capture and storage should come to be a reality in Europe.
 
CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which the greenhouse gas CO₂ is captured from large emissions sources like coal fired plants, natural gas plants and refineries and transported to secure storage sites beneath the ground or below the sea floor.

Halving the emissions

ZEP’s action plan, which was laid forth last week, lay the foundation for the fact that there is enormous potential for CCS in the European climate battle.

The ZEP report supports Bellona’s position; that CO₂ emissions can be slashed by half by 2050 if heavy emphasis in put on the capture and storage of CO₂.

The calculations for this potential are those, which Bellona’s Dr. Aage Stangeland has conducted. The figures were presented in a study last year in the “The International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.”

ZEP is an advisory body for European Union institutions and consists of a host of large European energy companies, researchers and organizations that are thereby backing the Bellona produced figures for halving CO₂ emissions.

Pleased with the acknowledgment

Stangeland’s study shows that CO₂ emissions in the EU can be reduced by 54 percent, and by 33 percent on a world-wide basis if world society makes use of CCS on an industrial scale.

“This is a good acknowledgment for Bellona that the ZEP platform now points to our figures, but more important is that so many important stakeholders are now making it clear that CO₂ capture and storage must be one of the most central climate efforts,” Stangeland said.

Stangeland shows that a number of actors in the climate battle are trying to counteract CCS by saying that it will be too expensive and complicated, and that the reduction of climate gasses will be less than Bellona says is possible.  

Temporary solution

Bellona is working with many solutions to the climate crisis, especially renewable energy, energy efficiency, as well as CCS.

“We are not seeing CO₂ capture and storage as the conclusive solution, but as a temporary solution as we work to find a place for many more renewable energy sources,” said Stangeland.

“Whether we like it or not, there are large quantities of coal out there that will nevertheless be used, and something must be done with emissions from all the coal plants.”