The EU is working towards building enough geological storage to inject 50 million tonnes of CO₂ a year by 2030, with the first storage sites expected to start operating this year.
The update follows a European Commission report published in May saying progress towards the 2030 target was “well underway,” the Commission announced on Thursday.
The target centres on carbon capture and storage (CCS) — a process that captures carbon dioxide from industrial sites and stores it underground in geological formations — and requires infrastructure to capture, transport and store CO₂.
A meeting on the issue brought together senior representatives from heavy industry, infrastructure and transport operators, start-ups, trade unions, civil society organisations, and regional and local authorities.
Participants agreed that scaling up CCS would require coordinated action across the full “value chain”, including CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure.
Calls for faster permitting and clearer market demand
Stakeholders called for faster and more predictable permitting, stronger cross-border cooperation, greater transparency and data sharing, and open access to infrastructure to help projects move from planning to deployment, the Commission said.
The Innovation Fund — an EU funding programme for low-carbon technologies — was cited by participants as a driver of early CCS projects, and stronger demand for low-carbon products, including through public procurement, was also raised as a factor in encouraging investment.
European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra said an integrated European market for CO₂ transport and storage would depend on close cooperation between industry, EU member states and the Commission.
The discussions will feed into Commission work on future measures to support CO₂ transport infrastructure and markets due by the end of 2026, as part of the Energy Union package.
