Brussels Politicians know very well: The climate cannot be protected by reducing CO2 alone, but humanity must purposefully remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. For example, the EU is aiming for net zero emissions in its climate target for 2050 – in other words, saving unavoidable emissions. From 2050, the association of states is even aiming for negative emissions, i.e. to store more greenhouse gases than are still being emitted.
Natural and technical solutions can be considered for CO2 storage. Natural solutions include, for example, reforestation or rewetting of moors. Technical solutions rely on intercepting the resulting CO2 and storing it underground – that is “Carbon Capture and Storage”, or CCS for short.
The EU Commission wants Europe to rely on both in its climate policy. About half of the CO2 is to be stored in a natural and technical way. This emerges from a leak in the EU carbon strategy that is available to the Handelsblatt. The Commission wants to present its strategy on December 14th – together with numerous other EU projects in the field of climate policy.
First of all, the Commission lists “carbon farming” as one of the key elements in its paper. Farmers are rewarded for tilling their land in a way that either binds CO2 or prevents it from being released into the atmosphere. She also wants to promote the use of wood in the construction sector.
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According to the current state of technology, the construction sector cannot become emission-free, since cement production inevitably produces CO2. The same applies to processes in the chemical and metal industries. In Germany, their share currently makes up seven percent of total emissions.
Billions in EU funding for CCS research
The hopes for industrial solutions for storing CO2 are correspondingly high. Particularly CO2-intensive branches of industry, for example oil and gas companies, are pushing for it, because then they can stick to their business model. A nice side effect: Empty gas and oil storage facilities are also suitable for storing CO2.
Most industrialized countries, especially the oil-rich Gulf States, are also relying on future technologies in their climate plans. The EU is already funding their research with billions of euros.
Direct air capture, in which carbon dioxide that has already been released is filtered out of the air, also plays a special role. By 2030, five million tonnes of CO2 are to be removed from the atmosphere in this way across the EU every year, the Commission writes in its paper.
Another hope lies in “carbon reuse”, the recycling of CO2. The captured CO2 is not supposed to be stored under the ground for example, but used as a raw material for the production of chemicals, plastics or fuels.
The commission has set a target value for this: By 2030, chemical plants and plastics manufacturers should use at least 20 percent non-fossil CO2 in their production. In addition, an EU market for carbon removal is to be created – similar to the European emissions trading system.
The Green MEP Jutta Paulus described the leaked Commission draft as a “right step”, since emissions cannot be completely avoided even after the phase out from fossil fuels. “From my point of view, it is very gratifying that the European Commission named nature-based solutions first,” she told the Handelsblatt. “On the one hand, moor and forest protection also counteracts the extinction of species; on the other hand, there is no risk of fatal releases of concentrated carbon dioxide, and these solutions are also the most cost-effective.”
With a view to “Direct Air Capture” and “Carbon Reuse”, she urged caution in view of the high price. Removing CO2 from the atmosphere currently costs around $ 500 to $ 600 per ton, depending on the process – and the costs for storage are not yet taken into account.
It is clear that to meet the Paris climate target of limiting global warming to at best 1.5 degrees, the technical removal of greenhouse gases from the air is necessary. “However, the commission apparently also has other options in mind, as it explicitly cites a project in an oil refinery as an example. The use of fossil sources creates lock-in effects and is not a sustainable way, ”says the environmental politician.
The potential of carbon recycling is not that great
The engineer Karsten Smid from the environmental protection organization Greenpeace sees the commission’s draft even more critically. “The approach of the commission falls short,” he said in an interview with the Handelsblatt. “The lobby interests have clearly prevailed here. At the same time, it was claimed that the coal phase-out was only possible with CCS technologies. Today nobody talks about it anymore. “
He argues that a completely new infrastructure would have to be built for the transport of captured CO2. The storage problem should not be underestimated either. The CO2 injected into the rock has to be safely stored and monitored for several thousand years. Nobody can guarantee that the CO2 will not accidentally be released again. “Europe should rather concentrate on becoming a leader in renewable energies than in a risk technology,” says Smid.
The recycling of carbon is also associated with a high expenditure of energy, and the potential is not that great. The best way is still to reduce emissions at the source, for example in the construction sector not to use cement as a binding agent, but to use other non-carbonaceous ones. And otherwise it just needs: Forests, forests, forests and moors.
More: CO2 capture: Are people allowed to use technology to influence the climate?