Reaction to the Net-Zero Industry Act

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) welcomes the proposal for the Net-Zero Industry Act by the European Commission (EC). It is a landmark political recognition of the contribution of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies to Europe’s climate neutrality target. The Green Deal Industrial Plan is poised to provide a predictable and simplified regulatory environment and stronger incentives for net-zero industries in the EU. There is a need to act swiftly to get this Regulation adopted.

ZEP strongly supports the objective of 50 million tonnes of CO2 of annual injection capacity by 2030.
When coupled with an investable business case along the entire CCS value chain, it establishes policy
predictability for companies, investors, and public authorities.

The obligation for Member States to publish “areas where CO2 storage sites can be permitted” is also welcome, since an exhaustive European Storage Atlas will be instrumental in scaling up the CO2 storage
capacity and the CCS value chain.

ZEP welcomes the eligibility of CO2 storage projects as ‘net-zero strategic projects’, benefitting from
fast permitting and authorisation processes by competent authorities.

The platform also welcomes the call on regional and local authorities to include CO2 storage projects in zoning, spatial, and land use plans. Since a Europe-wide open access cross-border CO2 transport infrastructure (including pipelines, ships, trucks, rail…) is crucial to connect emitters across Europe to
secure geological storage, CO2 transport should be acknowledged in all planning efforts. Going forward, permitting procedures need to be shortened for each part of the CCS value chain including the capture plant.

ZEP supports the creation of a Net-Zero Europe Platform to share best practices for organising national competent authorities and speeding up permitting procedures, as well as monitoring and supporting the deployment of a skilled workforce dedicated to net-zero technologies. Here, it will be crucial for Member States and the EC to nominate representatives at the decision level to ensure efficient governance and real progress. Capacity building at the level of competent authorities will be crucial to reduce existing and avoid new bottlenecks and unnecessary delays as more CCS projects come into play.

ZEP also supports the provisions that enable Member States to support projects with access to finance,
administrative obligations, and public acceptance. These provisions will ensure that storage operators
face as few barriers as possible.

Referring to the Regulation, ZEP would also like to highlight the importance of strengthening the
support for CCS and CCU research and innovation (R&I), given that it is the very foundation to achieve
efficient and fit-for-purpose solutions. ZEP recommends following the proposals made by the SET Plan
CCUS implementation working group (IWG9).

There is a need to move forward with complementary items that are not included in the proposal, such as an EU CCS and CCU strategy, a regulatory framework for non-discriminatory, open access and multi-modal Europe-wide CO2 transport infrastructure and increased public investments, both at the EU and national levels – necessary to make CCS economically viable and reach climate neutrality by

ZEP is looking forward to discussing the details of the proposal and its implementation with the EC
since several items require further clarification.