ZEP is supported by the European Union and receives funding from the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
On 15 December, for the first time, the European Commission presented a Communication to support carbon dioxide removals. Key elements of the communication of relevance for CCS, CCU, and CO2 infrastructure are highlighted in this ZEP briefing.
On 15 December, the European Commission presented two legislative proposals to decarbonise the European gas market and energy system by facilitating the uptake of renewable and low-carbon gases, including hydrogen.
The European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement during inter-institutional (trilogue) negotiations on the proposal for a Regulation on the Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E) guidelines on 14 December 2021.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) can enable early and cost-efficient hydrogen at scale. Low-carbon hydrogen produced from reformed natural gas with CCS can fulfil early hydrogen demand, giving more time to plan and build the infrastructure required to scale up renewable hydrogen.
The ZEP Network Technology co-chairs and further experts from the research constituency were engaged in preparing a fact-based, academic paper on low-carbon hydrogen. The ZEP paper provides a realistic picture of blue hydrogen and its role for Europe to reach climate-neutrality.
On 22 September, the Zero Emissions Platform Conference 2021 took place online, coordinated with the ZEP 68th Advisory Council meeting and as a ‘grant farewell’ for ZEP 2018-2021. The conference programme saw discussions reflect on CCS and CCU developments over the past three years, as well as highlight the main challenges going forward.
The large-scale deployment of cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure is crucial for the EU to reach its 2050 climate target. To this end, all modes of CO2 transport – pipeline, ship, barge, truck, train – and CO2 storage should be included in the revised TEN-E regulation, writes Dr Graeme Sweeney.
On 21 April – just ahead of Earth Day and the United States Leaders Summit on Climate, which the European Commission and Council will attend – the European Parliament’s and Council of the European Union’s negotiators have reached a provisional agreement on the European Climate Law, which proposes a legally binding target of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.
The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) welcomes a new member to the platform: Northern Lights JV DA, the transport and storage component of Norway’s Longship carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
This infographic summarises ZEP's report 'Europe needs robust accounting for carbon dioxide removal', produced by ZEP's Temporary Working Group on Carbon Dioxide Removal. The report provides a definition of carbon dioxide removal (based on the four principles presented in the previous ZEP report ‘Europe needs a definition of carbon dioxide removal’) that defines a screening process to identify whether CCS and CCU projects may lead to CDR and outlines the factors that need to be considered when assessing a project’s potential for CDR.
