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European Parliament stresses the need for commercial scale CCS development

Foto: Bellona

Publish date: January 28, 2013

“It is good to see that ITRE MEPs have realised the urgency of CCS deployment in Europe, and not least that they highlight its necessity for decarbonisation of energy-intensive industrial applications. Keeping and developing those industries in the EU is important both to ensure growth and secure employment. Commercialisation of CCS, the only available technology for deep emission cuts in such industries, will therefore be crucial to ensure their continued operation in a low-carbon future”, said Jonas Helseth, Director of Bellona Europa

The European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) adopted its own-initiative report on the European Commission’s Energy Roadmap 2050 on 24 January.

The Energy Roadmap explores the challenges of delivering the EU’s decarbonisation objective while at the same time guaranteeing competitiveness and security of energy supply. It underlines the need for CCS to be applied to power generation from both coal and gas-fired power plants and heavy industry.  Based on five different decarbonisation scenarios for the EU energy sector the Roadmap highlights that CCS could account for up to one-third of decarbonised electricity generation by the middle of the century, according to one scenario, while the share of CCS in decarbonising the power sector is estimated at 19% to 24% in other scenarios.

bodytextimage_Belchatow-Power-Plant-001.jpg Photo: Photo credits: Konrad Konstantynowicz/Greenpeace

The report adopted by the ITRE Committee ‘stresses that CCS developed in an economically efficient, safe and sustainable way will need to be in use on a commercial scale as soon as possible’ Furthermore, it ‘highlights that CCS is also an important option for the decarbonisation of several energy intensive industries such as oil refining aluminium smelting and cement production’

The Commission intends to publish its Communication on CCS in the spring this year. The report on the first round of NER300 will be presented to the Climate Change Committee in February following which the decision about the launch of a second round of the competition will be made.

A draft version of the Communication was distributed for public consultation, where the Commission calls for far greater commitment from both governments and industry, including those providing fossil fuels.

Read Bellona statement on the draft here.

Read more about CO2 storage on Bellona’s CCS web.

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