German Cabinet approves plans to allow carbon capture May 29, 2024

German Cabinet

By AFP - Agence France Presse

The German government on Wednesday approved plans to authorize carbon capture as part of an initiative to reduce CO2 emissions, but climate campaigners called the measure illusory and impractical.

The government wants to approve the technology to help combat emissions in highly polluting sectors, such as the cement and lime industries, according to the Economy Ministry.

According to a planned amendment to the law, which still needs to be approved by the German parliament, carbon storage would also be allowed on the seabed and, in some cases, underground.

“Carbon capture must be made possible in Germany, otherwise we won't be able to meet our climate protection targets,” said Economics Minister Robert Habeck.

By authorizing carbon capture and storage, Germany would be “catching up with our European neighbors like Norway and many other countries,” said Habeck.

“In this way, we are fulfilling the responsibility we have as one of Europe's leading industrialized countries when it comes to dealing with greenhouse gas emissions.”

Carbon capture involves extracting CO2 from industrial sources and then transporting it to be buried underground or reused as an ingredient in products such as synthetic fuels or chemicals.

The process can be used to extract CO2 from the exhaust, or flue gas, of fossil fuel power plants, as well as from heavy industry.

In the fall of 2023, there were around 40 commercial-scale facilities worldwide applying carbon capture, isolating a total of 45 million tons (Mt) of CO2, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) - around 0.1% of annual global emissions.

The United Nations Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) considers the technology inevitable in the effort to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

But opponents of carbon capture fear that it is being hailed as an easy way out to avoid the sacrifices needed to slow down climate change.

Environmental groups criticized the German plans, with Greenpeace claiming that they offered only the “illusion of a solution”.

Carbon capture has not been sufficiently tested, is “very expensive, complex and would take decades to realize,” the group said.

Environmental campaign group BUND said plans to allow gas-fired power plants to use the technology would “undermine” the energy transition and jeopardize the phasing out of fossil fuels.

Germany, Europe's largest economy, aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 65% by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2045.