C 495/36
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
29.12.2022
Several activities, including energy intensive industries, such as cement, iron and steel, aluminium, pulp and paper and refineries, as well as agriculture, have inherent process emissions resulting from the production processes themselves.
Carbon capture and storage, or carbon capture and use can provide a key contribution to tackling these sectors’ emissions.
Furthermore, it can help remove CO2 from the atmosphere through carbon removals such as bioenergy coupled with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and through Direct Atmospheric Carbon Capture (DACCS).
BECCS deployment should be approached in the updated NECPs in full consideration of the limits and availability of sustainable biomass.
Box 6: Setting objectives, targets and contributions for carbon capture and storage.
Member States are encouraged to provide the following information: — the annual aggregated projection of inherent process emissions that will have to be abated through CO2 capture; — the annual biogenic and direct air CO2 that will be available for geological storage of CO2; — the geological CO2 storage capacity that can be made operationally available annually; — annual CO2 storage capacity that may become available at the end of exploitation of hydrocarbon reservoirs; — planned CO2 transport infrastructure; — public funding support available for investment in CO2 capture, transport and storage; — any other measures to support the deployment of long-term geological CO2 storage opportunities.
2.6
Promoting the research, innovation and competitiveness dimension
Building on the 2020 assessment of the initial NECPs (64) and considering the current geopolitical circumstances and the recent policy developments, Member States are invited to strengthen the research innovation and competitiveness dimension in their updated plans.
A successful research and innovation (R&I) pathway in clean energy and low carbon technologies requires sufficient experts and entrepreneurs, supported by the synergistic use of EU, national and regional programmes.
Clear national R&I targets and objectives to 2030 (and where appropriate 2050), increased cooperation between Member States and a continuous monitoring of national R&I activities are crucial to reinforce the EU competitiveness and to deliver on the Green Deal objectives.
These elements are also of the essence to bridge the gap between R&I and market uptake, to reinforce EU competitiveness, and eventually lead to an accelerated roll-out of technologies expected to impact on the Green Deal objectives.
R&I strategies should also embrace and nurture non-technological, transdisciplinary aspects that are critically important for accelerating the ecological and energy transitions; stimulating behavioural change, climate-conscious lifestyle choices, promoting institutional, governance and policy innovations to create enabling conditions for a climate-neutral transformation.
The updated national plans should describe Member States’ objectives and policies to facilitate the manufacturing scale-up of commercially available low-carbon technologies, equipment and components (for instance by reflecting the current situation and trends for investments, value added) within their territory – as well as their objectives and policies to achieve this through diversification efforts in third countries.
The REPowerEU plan specifies that its achievement requires diversifying the supply of renewable energy equipment and of critical raw materials, reducing sectoral dependencies, overcoming supply chain bottlenecks, and expanding the EU’s clean energy technology manufacturing capacity.
The updated NECPs should better reflect the needs related to manufacturing capacities and industrial value chains in key low-carbon energy technologies.
(64) An EU-wide assessment of the National Energy and Climate Plans Driving forward the green transition and promoting economic recovery through integrated energy and climate planning.