The CCS4CEE project is gaining momentum: 8 national seminars were held throughout June, during which the national roadmaps for CCS deployment were presented. How does Michał Wendołowski from Bellona Europa, Expertise partner in this project, summarize these events?
Q: What was the main goal of the national seminars?
A: The main idea of the seminars was to continue our engagement with stakeholders and to present the national CCS deployment roadmaps, which were also published around the time of those seminars. During the seminars the CCS4CEE project partners shared their key recommendations from the roadmaps. The seminars also featured external speakers with expertise on CCS, including representatives of the European Commission, academia and private sector.
Q: How do you rate the seminars? Did they meet your expectations?
A: I had the pleasure to follow the Polish and Slovenian seminars, and I also had a presentation during the joint seminar for the Baltic countries. My colleague Hanna Biro attended the Hungarian event. They turned out to be really interesting and informative, and demonstrated a high degree of engagement and interest in CCS among the people who participated in them.
Q: What are the future steps in the project?
A: This month (September 2022), we are about to finalise the second phase of the project. Now that the roadmaps are published, and the national events and the Brussels conference have taken place, we will start the final phase, which is planned to take place during October 2022-September 2023. We will continue our engagement with stakeholders, while seeking to connect with more actors that are relevant for CCS. We would also like to support CCS project developers in their efforts. This will be done through capacity-building and communication activities. There will also be more events, so please watch this space!
The series of national events culminated in a regional seminar in Brussels on 6 September. The purpose of this conference was to establish familiarity of regional actors with the EU-level CCS policy initiatives, to introduce funding opportunities that could be used to facilitate and accelerate the deployment of CCS projects in the region, as well as to enable and encourage communication and cooperation among regional stakeholders and EU representatives. The Building momentum for CCS deployment in the CEE region conference gathered 150 in-person and online participant representing national governments, the EU institutions, industry, academia as well as civil society. Wide list of speakers and panellists included representatives of the EU institutions (i.e., the European Parliament and the European Commission) and Member States, CCS project developers from the CEE region, as well as civil society.
