The cement industry carries with it a large environmental footprint, accounting for 8% of global emissions[1]. Heidelberg Cement, the largest producer of cement and aggregate in Europe, was one of the speakers at the event Transport of CO2 to Permanent Storage: A Missing Piece in Europe’s Industrial Decarbonisation Plan, on the 6^th of April of the ongoing #TenTTuesday campaign organised by Bellona Europa and Clean Air Task Force.

“Two thirds of our emissions are process emissions, so we need to develop CCUS at a large scale in order to achieve our ambition” said Winston Beck, Director Government Affairs EU at Heidelberg Cement. The ambition is referring to Heidelberg Cement’s commitment to provide carbon neutral concrete to all customers by 2050.

To reach the set ambition, the cement sector must be supported by a CCS value chain. At the event, Beck touched on some of the many CCS projects underway at Heidelberg Cement. One such venture is Brevik in Norway, which looks to be the world’s first industrial scale cement production CCS project. “The aim is to permanently store 400,000 tons of CO2 per year, which is about 50% of the plants annual emissions”.

The plant is ideally located by the seaside, easing CO2 transportation requirements by the possible use of both pipeline and multiple transport modalities. Other ventures, highlighted Beck, such as sites located in the CEE region are far from CO2 storage sites at sea, adding that “we really need to find some transport solutions”.

Speaking on possible deployment scenarios of CCS infrastructure, Beck highlighted the need for multiple transport modalities irrespective of low, medium or high infrastructure availabilities, saying, “In all scenarios we need a mix of solutions. There will always be plants which are remote where we need ship or rail solutions”. On the risks of such deployment scenarios, Beck elucidated Heidelberg Cement’s position, saying, “We believe that there is such a high demand for these types of CO2 transport, that they will never be stranded assets going forward”.

On what to look forward to, Beck touched upon the importance of raising awareness on CCS technology, harmonisation of standards and the need for regulation – “A CO2 transport network across Europe to make sure that all plants where we have CCS projects can be connected to a storage site; for that we need to have the necessary regulation”.

The ongoing revision of the TEN-T regulation is crucial to spark the large-scale development and deployment of a cross-border CO2 transport network, connecting industrial emitters with suitable storage for their captured CO2. Multiple transport modalities will ensure equitable access to storage for all EU Member States – greatly contributing to cohesion in industrial decarbonisation.

The #TenTTuesday campaign and the 6^th of April event is jointly facilitated by Bellona Europa and Clean Air Task Force (CATF). The campaign looks to highlight, within the ongoing revision of the TEN-T regulation, the need to support multiple modalities for CO2 transport to storage.

[1] Chatham House. 2018. Making Concrete Change: Innovation in Low-carbon Cement and Concrete. Available at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2018/06/making-concrete-change-innovation-low-carbon-cement-and-concrete-0/executive-summary