The Industrial Carbon Management Forum

The ICM Forum in Pau last week was full of insightful discussions on how Europe can drive decarbonisation through technologies such as Carbon Capture Usage & Storage (CCUS). For energy-intensive industries like lime industry, CCUS is essential —not only for decarbonisation but also to safeguard competitiveness and jobs across Europe.

Key takeaways:

• A major challenge remains the lack of final investment decisions on CCS infrastructure. Industry needs greater certainty. EuLA welcomes the recent joint declaration by France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, which calls for better coordination of cross-border CO₂ transport infrastructure.
  
• Value chain risks and the business case for CCS must be supported by a regulatory framework that is flexible and fit for purpose, incorporating incentives and de-risking mechanisms to encourage investment.
  
• Network planning needs to be integrated into a broader energy system, and permitting processes must be harmonised across Member States to streamline project approvals and reduce delays.
  
• The standardisation of CO₂ quality and processes presents several challenges such as variations in CO₂ quality requirements, purification costs, and the interoperability of CO₂ networks. We need to address regulatory uncertainty by harmonising regulations on CO₂ quality and enhancing cross-border coordination

Thank you to CCS Europe and Zero Emission Platform for hosting a breakfast event to discuss what is needed to make CCS happen. Moderated by ZEP’s Eadbhard Pernot, with contributions from industry, NGOs, and policymakers, the panel emphasised the importance of raising political awareness, involving financial institutions to de-risk investments, and ensuring strong national strategies from Member States.

On Friday afternoon, group wrapped up the final panel and conclusions of the conference and headed to Teréga and Total Energies for the site visits.

Thank you to Teréga for an insightful panel discussing the benefits of synergising expertise to create a CCUS ecosystem that can be replicated throughout Europe.

Thank you to TotalEnergies for interactive session exploring the technical challenges of the CCUS decarbonisation chain in 2024, based on the experience of the their CO₂ capture/transport/storage pilot project at Rousse.

It is imperative that we have a vision for CCS in the EU. To ensure meaningful progress in CCS deployment, fast-tracking CO₂ transport and storage standards are critical to overcoming regional infrastructure gaps requires a communication toolkit and community engagement guidelines. Establishing an EU-wide CCS industrial alliance is critial for knowledge sharing and infrastructure development, as CCS plays a pivotal role in achieving decarbonisation goals for hard-to-abate industries such as lime.

Moving forward, EuLA is encouraged by the Commission’s commitment to present a new industrial strategy on its 101^st days, and hopes to see the priorities highlighted at the ICM forum reflected in the strategy.