The European Commission has drafted an industrial carbon management strategy to capture as much as 450 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually by 2050, as reported by Bloomberg on January 12. According to the draft document, the EU’s power sector would capture more than 100 million tons of fossil and biogenic CO2 per year by 2050. Additionally, 100 million to 200 million tons of CO2 would need to be captured directly from the atmosphere to create removal credits and offset emissions from hard-to-abate sectors. In comparison, the global carbon capture and storage (CCS) capacity only stood at 50 million in 2022. The commission is set to publish the document on February 6, along with a roadmap towards the intermediate 2040 climate target outlined in the European Green Deal.

The commission underscored carbon removal’s irreplaceable role in decarbonizing hard-to-abate industries and realizing negative emissions after 2050. According to the draft document, the commission outlines three pathways for industrial carbon management: removal from the atmosphere, CCS, and carbon capture for use in synthetic products or fuels. Furthermore, the commission envisions a unified market for carbon removal credits, for which it plans to introduce more ambitious and coordinated policies at national level and strategic infrastructure planning at bloc level. In November 2023, EU lawmakers voted to create a carbon removal certification system to address issues of greenwashing, lack of clarity, and distrust in the EU carbon removal market.

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-12/eu-plans-big-scale-up-of-carbon-removals-to-reach-climate-neutrality?srnd=green

https://www.esgtoday.com/eu-parliament-votes-to-set-up-carbon-removal-certification-system/