Energy firms raise doubts over ‘impossible’ 2030 carbon storage target

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Euractiv or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: European oil and gas companies are expressing mounting doubts over the feasibility of the EU’s 2030 carbon storage targets, calling them “impossible” under current conditions
• While industry leaders have long championed carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a key decarbonisation solution, they now warn that regulatory hurdles, infrastructure gaps, and insufficient investment threaten to derail progress just five years ahead of the deadline

🔭 The context: The EU’s climate strategy requires member states to develop significant carbon storage capacity by 2030 to align with net-zero by 2050
• CCS is seen as essential for decarbonising heavy industry and hard-to-abate sectors
• However, large-scale deployment has lagged due to high costs, slow permitting, and public opposition
• Oil majors have pledged to lead in CCS, often citing their expertise in subsurface management, yet few operational storage projects have materialised at scale in Europe

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: CCS is a cornerstone of EU and global climate pathways, particularly for achieving negative emissions and offsetting residual industrial output
Delays or underperformance risk leaving the bloc short of its climate targets while prolonging the use of fossil fuels without adequate mitigation
• A credible and accelerated CCS rollout is critical for maintaining climate ambition and ensuring a just transition for energy-intensive sectors

⏭️ What's next: EU institutions are expected to review CCS progress later this year, potentially introducing new measures to streamline permitting and unlock funding
• Industry leaders are lobbying for more supportive policies and public investment, arguing that private capital alone cannot deliver the required capacity on time
• Environmental groups continue to challenge CCS as a “false solution,” pressing for faster fossil fuel phase-outs instead.

💬 One quote: “Without urgent action to resolve bottlenecks, the EU’s 2030 storage goal risks being a paper target rather than a climate reality,” warned an executive from a leading European oil company.

📈 One stat: The EU aims to develop over 50 million tonnes of annual CO₂ storage capacity by 2030, but current operational capacity is only a fraction of that figure

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