EU Commissioner Sees Need for CCS

European energy commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete confirmed natural gas and carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be central to achieving a competitive and climate-neutral economy, notably in closing the circle for the energy intensive sectors for which other solutions for decarbonisation do not exist. He was addressing the fourth EU-Norway energy summit in Brussels February 5.

Moreover, combined with renewable biomass, CCS could create negative emissions compensating for remaining CO2.

Eurogas secretary-general, James Watson, commented: “The future of gas is exciting and offers the EU a huge chance for technology and industrial leadership in the fight against climate change, through the use of renewable gases and CCS. Gas also offers the flexibility that can complement increasingly variable electricity generation and
will therefore remain an important component of the EU’s energy mix beyond 2050.”

The European Commission also announced a major innovation conference which will discuss natural gas and CCS as part of the solution, taking place in Oslo, Norway in September.

While there are schemes that rely on CCS in order to improve oil and gas recovery, the cost of the technology is too high, given the carbon price, to justify standalone schemes. However the hope is that governments anxious to adhere to their Paris Agreement commitments will find a way to finance them. Bodies such as the International Energy Agency assume that the technology is widespread and achievable in scenarios where global warming slows.