Dear reader,
Energy crisis first, climate protection second - that is the mood in Germany in late summer 2022. Because the governments under Angela Merkel are delaying the energy transition and have made themselves unilaterally dependent on Russian gas supplies, against the advice of many countries and the EU Commission, consumers have to and consumers are now footing the bill.
But climate protection is also put aside - because now it is about such existential questions as blackouts, warm apartments and the continued operation of entire branches of industry.
So lignite-fired power plants are being restarted and LNG terminals are being built.
Whether the German climate targets for 2030 are still realistic under these circumstances is anyone's guess, as Niklas Höhne recently told SPIEGEL.
And prominent climate researchers such as Johann Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, emphasized in a SPIEGEL interview this week that he was "seriously concerned" about the global climate change.
There is every reason for concern, because "we only have eight years to reduce global emissions by half if we want to meet our climate targets," said the Swede.
But fossil energies have become extremely attractive again due to the energy crisis, companies are making billions in profits, and new oil and gas sources are being developed.
One way out of this climate protection energy crisis dilemma are technological solutions such as underground storage of CO₂, "Carbon Capture and Storage" (CCS).
The idea: The CO2 is trapped where it is released using so-called separation towers.
Compressed and liquefied, it can then be transferred to a repository via pipelines and tankers.
Suitable locations are evacuated gas or oil fields in deep sediment layers or basalt formations under the sea floor or on land.
In Germany's national plan to achieve the climate goals it can be read that the technology is "essential" and in the current world climate report it says that "depending on availability", CCS could enable longer use of fossil fuels.
In its 1.5-degree scenario, the EU even assumes that all remaining residual emissions from industry will be captured via CCS, meaning that steel and cement works will become "green" in the future.
But CCS is highly controversial among climate protectors, researchers and entrepreneurs.
For some it is the holy grail of climate protection, for others an expensive distraction from "real" savings.
A gigantic project by the oil and gas companies Wintershall Dea and Equinor now shows how enthusiastic parts of the industry are.
They want to build a 900-kilometer pipeline for transporting and storing CO₂ in the North Sea.
It should go into operation before 2032 and transport CO₂ from northern Germany to the storage sites off the Norwegian coast, as the two companies announced on Tuesday.
Norway already has many years of experience with underground CO2 storage on the high seas.
The oil company Equinor is planning a “CO2 disposal service for all of Europe” with the state-sponsored “Northern Lights” project, as an employee explained to SPIEGEL two years ago during a visit to Øygarden (near Bergen).
But the Norwegian CCS projects are almost the only ones in the world that work at least halfway.
At least that's the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), which was also published this week.
Seven of the world's thirteen most promising CO2 storage projects are currently not meeting expectations, two have already failed and one has been abandoned.
Of the three reasonably successful running CCS plants, two are in Norway and one is in Canada.
According to the analysts, this was mainly due to the following problems:
Most projects have so far depended on billions in government subsidies.
In Norway, a tonne of compressed CO₂ still costs around 100 euros, despite generous state aid.
There were technical difficulties with many CCS projects, while others are struggling with a "performance deficit", meaning they were able to store less CO₂ than initially planned - which in turn all costs a lot of money.
Only around 30 percent of all plants worldwide are currently pure storage projects for industrial emissions.
In only one percent of the cases, the CO₂ is made usable again (CCU – CO2 storage and use), for example for the production of materials for chemical processes or for beverage production).
Over 70 percent of CO2 injections into the ground have so far been in the course of oil extraction.
With the so-called “enhanced oil recovery” process, gases such as CO₂ are injected underground at high pressure in order to access oil reserves that are difficult to access.
This is a climate paradox, so to speak: storing CO₂ in order to get more oil out of the ground at the same time and then burn it again.
So the balance sheet is rather meager.
Nevertheless, compared to previous years, there is currently a real run on CCS (see graphic).
This is also due to the rising CO2 prices in many industrialized countries.
The European price for a ton of CO₂ on the spot market of the EEX electricity exchange in Leipzig is currently EUR 78 – a year ago it was just over EUR 50.
This automatically makes CCS more and more attractive.
Because it is becoming increasingly expensive for cement and steel works to emit CO₂ – the available CO2 rights are also increasingly decreasing.
Nevertheless, the success of the expensive technology is still in the decimal place: According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 40 million tons of CO₂ are stored underground worldwide every year - that is around 0.1 percent of annual CO2 emissions.
According to the IEA, it should be 1.6 billion annually by 2030.
Then it would be 4.5 percent.
If you like, we will inform you once a week about the most important things about the climate crisis - stories, research results and the latest developments on the biggest issue of our time. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
The topics of the week
Climate researcher Rockström on the energy crisis: "The government could still prevent a social escalation"
The traffic light coalition is neglecting climate protection because of the energy crisis.
Here Johan Rockström shares how she could do better - and why Sweden is a role model.
Flood disaster in Pakistan: "The rain took our house in a few minutes"
1,100 dead, desperate families, millions homeless: The heavy floods hit Pakistan at a time of political and economic crisis.
Those affected have already identified a culprit.
Fighting the climate crisis: Can we still prevent the relapse into the fossil age, Ms. Göpel?
Climate protection has never been discussed so much, at the same time coal-fired power plants are being started up again.
Transformation researcher Maja Göpel on what is going wrong in Germany - and how we can rethink.
Controversial company car rule: burn money with combustion engines
The company car privilege is an expensive subsidy for high earners.
The state is thus wasting an opportunity to get closer to the climate goal.
Many companies have been calling for ecological reform for a long time.
Climate process in Berlin: 60 hours of free time for 30 minutes of traffic jams
It is the first verdict of this kind: Nils R. counts himself among the activists of the "last generation" and is stuck on the autobahn.
A judge now ruled that any "long-term goals" should not be "blocked."
No more for the 9-euro ticket: Freedom and back
Just drive off – for many poor people, this option ends on Thursday when the 9-euro ticket is no longer valid.
The fact that others continue to travel around the area carefree shows a serious social problem.
Transport Minister Wissing's climate debacle: Does the state have to shut down all cars with combustion engines in six years?
Speed limit, company car reform, new cheap ticket - the FDP and their responsible minister reject almost all climate measures in transport.
Environmental aid lawyer Remo Klinger says: Then the government has to be forced.
Extreme weather in Pakistan: "A climate dystopia on our doorstep"
Twice as much rain as normal: In Pakistan, more than a thousand people died in floods, and many more were made homeless.
The climate crisis plays an important role – even if there are still unanswered questions.
stay confident
Yours, Susanne Götze
