Bellona: CCS needed for both climate and growth, establishes European Parliament event
On Monday 10 November 2014 the European Commission’s technology platform for CCS, ZEP, hosted its annual event at the European Parliament. Experts in the field, from the heart of European policy making to key industrial players, gathered to discuss the developments of the last year and the way ahead. The focus of this year was on the role of CCS in energy intensive industries and on the key infrastructure that transports and stores CO2 after it has been captured.
The event was hosted by British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Theresa Griffin with French MEP Edouard Martin. Both are members of the Socialist and Democrats group and both see a role for CCS in decarbonising and securing industry. As Martin emphasised in his closing remark, climate measures are not taken to ‘bother’ industry or threaten employment, but on the ground it can often feel that way.
Moreover, Koen Coppenholle of CEMBUREAU explained how CO2 emissions are integral to the production process of cement and other energy intensive industries, and therefore how energy efficiency measures can only go so far in reducing them. If we are to see the level of climate action we need, it must therefore be done in a way which is compatible with growth. As made clear by Phillip Pearson of ETUC, CCS in Europe’s core industries is the key.
Longstanding supporter of CCS and former President of the European Parliament, MEP Jerzy Buzek also joined the panel. Buzek underlined the unique role of CCS in decarbonisation, noting what is obvious but often forgotten: that CCS is not an energy-producing technology but a means to reduce CO2 emissions. Buzek therefore argued that any subsidies for CCS should be kept outside discussions about subsidising specific energy sources in the internal energy market.
Other panelists included Amy Clemitshaw, Deputy Director for Fossil Fuel Generation and CCS at the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change. The UK currently leads in Europe on CCS deployment and as Clemitshaw made clear, is no longer concerned with demonstrating CCS, but with commercialising it. Clemitshaw stated that the UK aims to make CCS cost-effective by 2020.