Tuesday, 14th December 2021
Time: 10.00-12.15 CET
Last week, on Tuesday, 14th December 2021, we organised the first annual regional conference which summarized the first year the project “Building momentum for the long-term CCS deployment in the CEE region”. The conference took place in Zoom and was led by the WiseEurope, with the support of project’s consortium.
WiseEuropa together with Bellona Europa, CIVITTA Latvija, Institute for European Integration and Energy Policy Group, with support of Europeum, is implementing the project “Building momentum for the long-term CCS deployment in the CEE region” supported by the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation. The purpose of this project is to renew the discussion on CCS technologies, leading to the new policy developments and joint projects in this area.
The conference was opened by dr Maciej Bukowski, WiseEurope CEO, and attended by Karolina Marszał, WiseEurope, Krzysztof Bolesta, DG ENERGY, EC Jan Theulen, Director Alternative Resources at HeidelbergCement, Luciana Miu, Energy Policy Group, and Michał Wendołowski, Bellona Europa,who moderated a discussion about national perspective on CCS.
Key messages and areas covered by our speakers:
Relevant actors interested in reducing emissions in their activities took part in the conference, however they were mostly representatives of the industry that produces large amounts of CO2.
A green light from Brussels is not enough, even when coupled with unprecedented EU funding opportunities and the increasing costs of climate inaction.
The regulatory framework needs to become an enabler rather than a showstopper, as is often the case in Central and Eastern Europe.
Governments need to step in, cooperate and put their weight behind CCS in CEE, because even the most determined industrial frontrunners cannot do it on their own.
Climate neutrality cannot be achieved without a large-scale deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage, as indicated by European Commission’s long-term scenarios
There is a clear call from a wide range of stakeholders for the Central and Eastern European governments to give CCS a more central role in their national climate strategies.
CEE countries face similar challenges in deploying CCUS, and this may build the foundation for regional cooperation in the future.
In CEE, we can witness raised decarbonisation targets set by companies and concerns about CO2 price from the private sector, therefore, governments should quickly amend the possibly insufficient legislation and allow for CO2 transport and permanent storage.
Watch the video from the conference here:
Speakers presentations are available here: https://we.tl/t-egSz6nWG2H
