Media Releases
European Parliament adopts ambitious resolution on climate change
15th March 2019
The Global CCS Institute welcomes the European Parliament’s adoption of the resolution on Europe’s long-term emission reduction strategy. The joint resolution puts forward the European Parliament’s position on the vision proposed by the European Commission for a competitive and prosperous climate neutral Europe. The resolution will help set a clear direction of travel for Europe’s climate and energy policy.
The Institute is pleased that the European Parliament took a positive stance on carbon capture and storage (CCS) acknowledging its important role in decarbonizing the industrial and energy sectors and achieving global climate targets, as highlighted in the IPCC SR15.
In response to the vote, Guloren Turan, General Manager for Advocacy at the Global CCS Institute stated that: “ Today’s vote recognises that Europe is ready to step up and take ambitious action to tackle climate change. This resolution marks an important step forward in the Parliament’s recognition of the role of CCS in achieving Europe’s climate targets. In addition to its important role as a climate mitigation technology, CCS can also deliver significant value to European economies and support a just transition for all. The upcoming European Council meeting and the Sibiu Summit will also be key opportunities to emphasize the need to embrace all climate solutions, including CCS, in Europe’s climate strategy.”
The Institute believes that it will be critical for Europe and its Member States to embrace CCS alongside other climate mitigation actions and technologies to deliver its ambitious climate goals. CCS will be needed to reduce emissions in the scale and timeframe required to deliver net-zero by mid-century. Three out of the four pathways included in the IPCC SR15 include CCS as a necessary solution to reach the 1.5 target.
The Institute stresses that CCS is a proven technology that has the potential to deliver deep emission reductions in energy-intensive industries and the power sector. In light of the European Parliament’s resolution, it is important to emphasise that different carbon removal and negative emissions technologies have different stages of technological maturity and are confronted with different scalability challenges.
In the case of CCS, this is a proven and safe technology that has been in commercial use for over 40 years. To date, more than 200 million tons of CO2 have been safely stored. There are currently 18 CCS large-scale projects in operation globally. In Europe, Norway hosts two large-scale CCS projects, Sleipner and Snøhvit.
To deliver Europe’s climate ambition, immediate climate mitigation action is needed and efforts to develop CCS and CO2 transport and storage infrastructure should be a priority to mitigate emissions.
You can read the text of the adopted resolution here.