Authors: Lucija Jukić, Domagoj Vulin

Carbon Capture and Storage is among the most efficient options for achieving decarbonization goals, and this is the main motivation for developing a set of guidelines aimed at accelerating the implementation of such projects at the national level in Croatia. Although CCS is currently not well covered by Croatian legal framework nor is public perception positive as described in the second chapter of the CCS National Roadmap, Croatia has good preconditions for developing a functioning CCS network considering the experience with the existing transport network operation, emitters’ willingness to reduce the emissions, and great storage potential. Institutional stakeholders and stakeholders from the academic sector with interest in CCS can mostly be considered pace-setters, while in the private sector both pace-setters and fence-sitters can be found. These are the most important actors that can influence the upscaling of the CCS deployment by following the guidelines given in the third chapter of the CCS National Roadmap. Along with amending a clear and concise taxonomy in the future strategic and legal documents, Croatia should increase its engagement in international forums, the Government should encourage clustering among industry stakeholders, and establish a communication platform, with a special focus on establishing a community advisory board responsible for keeping up with the latest developments. The guidelines further suggest creating an easy-to-follow permitting flow-chart with clear responsibility designation, potential funding models, and possible means of increasing overall CCS awareness.

This roadmap was created as part of the Building momentum for the long-term CCS deployment in the CEE region project (CCS4CEE), which aims to renew the discussion on the long-term deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies in Central Eastern Europe (CEE), leading to new policy developments and joint projects in this area.

The full roadmap can be found here: CCS Roadmap_Croatia