Stockholm (NordSIP) – A group of 43 international civil society groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has issued an open letter to the European Commission expressing deep concern about the European Union’s (EU) plans for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
According to the campaign groups, analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) reveals that EU policies have committed upward of €8 billion to various CCS and related hydrogen projects, building on the more than €3 billion already spent. They claim that much of this funding stems from discussions held by policymakers within the Industrial Carbon Management Forum (ICM Forum), the 4th iteration of which took place in Pau, France on 10 and 11 October 2024. Formerly known as the CCUS Forum, the annual event brings EU policymakers together with other stakeholders including academia and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The ICM Forum creates various working groups aimed at shaping EU policy, which have come under criticism for being dominated by fossil fuel industry representatives. Environmental NGOs critical of CCS have been almost entirely sidelined, according to Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), an independent group focused on highlighting private sector lobbying activities towards EU policymakers.
The open letter alleges that much of the EU’s Industrial Carbon Management Strategy appears to closely mirror the recommendations of the ICM Forum in advocating for a large-scale investment in CCS despite the technology’s extremely high relative cost and poor performance track record to date. While there is a fairly broad consensus that CCS has its place in the climate action “toolbox,” this is based on its limited application within hard-to-abate sectors such as cement manufacturing, steel production, or other heavy industries.
A $30 trillion hit on net-zero 2050
According to a December 2023 University of Oxford study, a high-CCS pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050 could cost $30 trillion more than the alternative route based on renewables and energy efficiency. Critics of CCS also point to its potentially overwhelming impact on electricity grids if implemented at scale, as well as the fact that unlike renewable energy technologies it has failed to decline in cost over several decades of development.
Roughly half of the 43 campaign groups behind the open letter are based in Europe. Nordic Region representatives include Sweden’s AirClim and Denmark’s Klimabevægelsen i Danmark, Miljøforeningen Havnsø-Føllenslev. International organisations such as the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), ClientEarth, and Friends of the Earth are joined by regional NGOs from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa. They all argue that EU climate-related policymaking has been overly influenced by fossil fuel interests, which are accused of promoting CCS as a means to justify prolonged oil and gas production and use. A very small proportion of carbon emissions have been demonstrably captured to date, with a significant percentage of the resulting CO2 being employed in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques that result in yet more GHG emissions. The fossil industry is also promoting the build-out of so-called Blue Hydrogen solutions, whereby hydrogen is produced from fossil gas and the related emissions captured so as to market it as a “low carbon” transition fuel.
Although these organisations are targeting EU policymakers with this latest campaign, a similar situation is emerging in the post-Brexit United Kingdom (UK), where the new government announced a £22 billion commitment to CCS on 4 October 2024. According to analysis of official transparency records by climate disinformation focused NGO DeSmog, the UK government’s decision follows a sharp increase in fossil fuel and CCS industry lobbying, with Equinor, BP, ExxonMobil, and Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) attending multiple meetings with ministers over the past year.
