Two shades of green: can European industry decarbonise and stay competitive?

Setting the scene for CCS in Europe

In October 2024, Mario Draghi presented his report, The future of European competitiveness to the European Commission. The report emphasised that Europe is at risk of falling far behind countries like the US and China in terms of innovation and commercialisation, endangering the EU’s fundamental values.

Simultaneously, Europe must also face the threat of the climate crisis. The EU remains committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, which requires the need for increased innovation and commercialisation to be balanced against the need for wide-scale decarbonisation.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) presents a way of addressing both challenges simultaneously.

For some industries, CCS currently presents the only means of decarbonisation. For example, the cement industry is responsible for 7% of global CO₂ emissions. However, the majority of these emissions result from the calcination of limestone, which is key to the process of making cement, and cannot be avoided.

In addition, when implemented on industries that utilise biomass, such as waste-to-energy and pulp and paper, CCS can not only reduce CO₂ emissions but also remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. This is known as “negative emissions”, as more CO₂ is taken out of the atmosphere than added, or “carbon dioxide removal” (CDR).

Read more: The significance of CCS in achieving net-zero emissions

The EU appears to be in agreement on the significance of these technologies. In February 2024, the European Commission published its Industrial Carbon Management strategy, which outlined the role of CCS and CDR in achieving climate neutrality. CCS was also referenced in the Draghi report as part of its recommendation for a “joint plan on decarbonisation and competitiveness”.

However, realising this potential requires the simultaneous and large-scale development of CCS across the entire value chain, from wide-scale deployment of CO₂ capture projects, to coordination of transport infrastructure, and maturation of CO₂ storage.

Gathering CCS experts, industry representatives and European policymakers

On 29 January, the European ACCSESS project gathered CCS experts, industry representatives and European policymakers at the SINTEF Brussels office for an open event exploring how we can overcome key barriers to large-scale CCS deployment in Europe. 54 registered to join in person, with a further 118 registering to join online.

ACCSESS is a European project led by SINTEF Energy Research that to aims to contribute to achieving a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, by facilitating the uptake of CCS and CCUS in four industrial sectors: cement, waste-to-energy, pulp and paper, and biorefineries. 

The event was organised by SINTEF and ACCSESS partner Stora Enso, in collaboration with the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP).

Creating a predictable environment for investment decisions on CCS 

Industry contributions were provided by representatives from ACCSESS’ industrial partners, Conny Johansson (Stora Enso) Jonathan Pascal Cutuli (Heidelberg Materials), Jannicke Gerner Bjerkås (Hafslund Celsio) and Lamberto Eldering (Equinor).

ACCSESS is currently using Hafslund Celsio's mobile capture rig to test improved CO₂ capture, by combining an enzymatic solvent from Saipem and a rotating packed bed (RPB) absorber from Prospin and Proceler. So far, the rig has tested CO₂ capture at both Hafslund Celsio and Technology Centre Mongstad in Norway. It is currently undergoing a test campaign at Stora Enso's pulp and paper mill in Sweden, and is due to move to Heidelberg Material's cement kiln in Poland in spring 2025.

During the event, Hafslund Celsio also announced that a new financial investment decision had recently been made on their CO₂ capture project at their waste-to-energy plant in Klemetsrud, after it had been paused for over a year due to unexpected cost increases. The project aims to capture 350 kilotonnes of CO₂ per year from 2029, reducing Oslo's emissions by almost 20%.

Both Hafslund Celsio and Heidelberg Materials represent the capture parts of the Norwegian Longship project: the first, full-scale national CCS value chain. Heidelberg Materials are due to start capturing CO₂ from their cement plant in Brevik later this year. Equinor is a partner in the storage part of this project, Northern Lights, which opened in September 2024.

Scaling up single CCS projects to commercially viable deployment 

While frameworks such as the EU Innovation Fund, and national initiatives can kickstart activity, this is not sufficient for large-scale CCS deployment in terms of policy, infrastructure, risk sharing and innovative business models.

In particular, Filip Johnsson presented the proposal for a “Value Chain Transition Fund” as a potential financing model for decarbonisation technologies. This model has been developed by Chalmers through the ACCSESS project.

Stable and purposeful industrial and climate policies are key 

mong the ideas discussed at the event, four key recurring themes emerged, highlighting the need for:

• Long-term stability in industrial and climate policies to provide the necessary predictability for significant investments in CCS projects,
• Funding models, and the importance of differentiating between project funding and financing, where the latter comes with an expectation on return on investment,
• Collaboration across borders and sectors, with risk shared along the entire value chain, rather than carried solely by one actor.

The EU is currently working on a Clean Industrial Deal, which is due to be launched on 26 February. While it remains to be seen if CCS is included, it is clear that the conversations held during the ACCSESS open event could not have been more relevant.

You can now watch a recording of the event on YouTube (in two parts): 

Part one:

Part two: