As of: February 26, 2024, 11:15 a.m
By: Amy Walker
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Federal Minister of Economics Habeck presents new plans for climate protection.
But the method of CO2 capture and use divides opinions.
Berlin - Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is now breaking new ground: On Monday (February 26th) he presented strategies for the capture, storage and use of carbon dioxide (CO₂), called Carbon Caputre an Storage (CCS).
Such methods are often viewed by critics as technological utopias or alibis for real climate protection.
Nevertheless, some environmental organizations have recently become open to it.
CO₂ should be stored under the sea - not on land
Specifically, Robert Habeck wants to capture and store climate-damaging CO₂ in certain industries such as the cement industry.
This should happen on the high seas, said the Green politician on Monday in Berlin.
“The technology is safe.” The CO₂ remains in the earth.
Storage should remain prohibited on land.
However, changes to the law are now needed to allow the transport of captured CO₂ in industrial processes.
CCS is intended to help achieve the long-term goal of becoming climate neutral by 2045.
This is not possible in all industries, which is why CCS is considered an important supplementary component.
Habeck said that the federal government had agreed on an initial key issues paper.
This is likely to be discussed in detail over the next few months.
With CCS processes, CO₂ is captured at the point of origin and then stored under high pressure underground on land or sea.
“Carbon Capture and Utilization” (CCU) technologies, on the other hand, use the captured carbon, for example as carbon dioxide in the beverage industry or for the synthesis of basic chemicals.
In Germany, CCS technology is currently only approved for research purposes.
CCS necessary to become climate neutral by 2045
The Ministry of Economic Affairs points to industrial emissions that are difficult or impossible to avoid, such as the production of cement and lime or the incineration of waste.
“In order to achieve our climate goals in these fields and at the same time secure our industrial location, we need to capture, store and use CO₂,” said the ministry.
The planned strategy should also include CCU procedures.
The strategy will probably define potential areas of application in more detail and set rules for a possible expansion of the technologies.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck presented his carbon management strategy (archive).
© Carsten Koall/dpa
A federal government report refers to current studies that state that the use of CCS is “necessary on a significant scale” in order to be climate neutral in Germany by 2045.
In fact, no scenario from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that envisages limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times can do without the capture and storage of CO₂.
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However, the projects that exist around the world do not store nearly as much CO₂ as would be required for the modeled paths.
Current CCS plants store less than 50 million tons of CO₂ per year, a fraction of global emissions.
The Federal Environment Agency warns of the high energy expenditure that would be required to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide.
A study by the federal authority came to the conclusion in 2019 that Germany could become climate neutral solely through natural sinks - i.e. natural landscapes in which CO₂ is stored in the long term, such as forests and moors.
She advocates a strategy of reforestation and rewetting of peatlands instead of investing in CCS.
A broad alliance of environmental organizations are in favor of CCS
In the face of such doubts, environmental and climate organizations disagree about the benefits of CCS and CCU processes.
In a rather unusual alliance with the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), Nabu and WWF were fundamentally open.
A position paper published in January stated that CCS and CCU are a relevant building block for achieving climate goals.
However, the priority is to avoid and reduce CO₂.
Other environmental organizations, including Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Greenpeace and the Association for Environmental and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND), sharply criticized the federal government's plans.
They warned that CCS was a false solution that prevented the exit from fossil fuels and raised fears of widespread climate and environmental damage.
It has not yet been proven that the permanent, safe storage of large quantities of pressed carbon dioxide underground is possible.
In their position paper, the proponents left it open as to whether the captured CO₂ should also be stored in Germany.
The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources is considering exploited natural gas deposits and deep rock layers containing salt water, so-called saline aquifers, as possible locations.
These are mainly in northern Germany.