In focus: Industrial carbon management

EU countries have committed to achieving ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2050, meaning the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions must reach net-zero by mid-century.

While accelerating renewable energy production and using energy more efficiently will make significant contributions on the energy sector’s path to climate neutrality, innovative technologies are also required to deliver the agreed reductions in CO₂ emissions.

Industrial carbon management (ICM) refers to a set of technologies, which involve the capture of CO₂ emissions from industrial and energy production facilities, as well as the removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere, and then its transport, storage or use.

These technologies will help the EU reduce emissions that are difficult or costly to reduce by other means, such as those arising from the energy-intensive processes of cement production or from waste-to-energy.

How does industrial carbon management work?

ICM technologies can be used in a number of different ways. For example, once captured at industrial sites or removed from the atmosphere, the CO₂ can be used to substitute fossil-based feedstock in construction products, chemicals or fuels. Alternatively, the captured or removed CO₂ can be put into permanent and safe storage locations, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs – onshore or offshore.

Often, the captured or removed CO₂ needs to be transported, either to be used at another location or for storage. Pipelines, ships, trains and trucks can all be used to move the gas from one place to another. Well-developed CO₂ infrastructure is therefore key to facilitating the deployment of ICM technologies.

A horizontal banner is divided into 4 sections containing icons and captions showing ICM pathways. Sources include process emissions, fossil fuels, biogenic-negative emissions and air. Carbon can be captured at industrial facilities, energy production facilities or directly from the air. It can be transported via pipeline, ship, train or truck. It can then be either utilized as feed-in stock for products such as fuels and plastics or permanently stored in onshore or offshore permanent geological formations

What’s the current state of play?

Historically, the uptake of ICM technology has been slow worldwide. According to a 2023 report by the International Energy Agency, the amount of CO₂ captured globally each year is equivalent to only 45 million tonnes (Mt) (0.1%) of the energy sector’s total emissions. However, the report also highlights improvements in recent years.

‘Since 2018, momentum on CCUS has increased on the back of stronger policies and improved market conditions. Today over 45 countries have CCUS projects in development. If all announced capture projects are built, around 400 Mt CO2 could be captured every year globally by 2030 – more than 8 times current capacity.’
IEA report - Net zero roadmap: A global pathway to keep the 1.5°C goal in reach - 2023 update

At EU level, to ensure the adequate deployment of ICM technologies, in step with our decarbonisation milestones towards 2050, the EU will need to be ready to capture at least 50 million tonnes (Mt) of CO₂ per year by 2030. Based on the impact assessment on the EU climate target for 2040, this figure might need to grow to around 280 Mt by 2040 and approximatively to 450 Mt by 2050.

The ICM Strategy was adopted by the Commission in February 2024. It sets a comprehensive approach to help ensure Europe meets its carbon management scale-up milestones, including actions at EU and national level.

‘We want to establish a European market for CO2. Carbon management technologies will allow us not only to cut emissions, but also to make our industry cleaner and more competitive.’
Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy - February 2024

The strategy addresses all parts of the CO₂ value chain. This includes deploying transport infrastructure, boosting carbon capture and storage, supporting carbon removals and fostering carbon utilisation.

Towards establishing a fully-fledged European single market for CO₂, the strategy builds on and strengthens the EU’s existing policy measures supporting ICM technologies.

Financing carbon management projects in the EU

The EU actively supports industrial carbon management projects across Europe.

The Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programmes supporting the deployment of innovative net-zero and low-carbon technologies. By February 2024, the Innovation Fund was supporting 26 industrial carbon management projects. All of these projects successfully applied to ‘calls’ organised by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), which have allocated a total of €3.3 billion since 2020.

Since 2018, CINEA built up a portfolio of 103 projects and actions for 706 beneficiaries from 42 countries across the ICM value chains. In addition to the Innovation fund, these projects are also funded by the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy for Projects of Common or Mutual Interest and the research and innovation programme Horizon Europe.

The ICM Forum

Facilitating discussions on how to make the deployment of ICM projects a reality in Europe, the ICM Forum takes place annually since 2021. It brings together stakeholders from industry, EU countries, EU institutions, NGOs, academia and others.

The 4th ICM Forum takes place on 10 and 11 October in Pau, France, with the possibility to attend in-person or connect online. This year’s edition is co-hosted by the Commission and the French Ministry in charge of Energy.

It builds on the momentum of last year’s edition of the forum, which was the most successful to date, with more than 450 in-person participants joining, including distinguished guests such as European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, and a further 1 400 participating online.

This year’s edition hopes to gather even more participants, reflecting Europe’s growing interest in ICM technologies.

Details

Publication date: 16 September 2024
Author: Directorate-General for Energy