At the beginning of June 2023, for the second time, CCS4CEE project partners and CCS stakeholders from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) came together in Brussels, at The Path to Net Zero: Accelerating CCS deployment in Central and Eastern Europe conference organised by Bellona Europa. The conference aimed to update regional actors on EU-level CCS policy developments and encourage communication and cooperation among interested parties. It also showcased emerging CCS pilot projects in the CEE region. The event was attended by nearly a hundred in person and online participants.

The conference brought together industry representatives, relevant national and regional authorities, EU officials, trade unions, as well as civil society and academia. The full-day agenda included presentations of CCS projects being implemented in Central and Eastern Europe (ECO2CEE, CCS Baltic Consortium, KOdeCO Net Zero, ANRAV, CO₂NTESSA), as well as panel discussions focusing successively on perceiving CCS as a necessity; knowledge sharing and stakeholder platforms; CCS in the context of a Just Transition.

Either you deploy CCS or you cannot produce cement in Europe

There are several topics that resonated exceptionally strongly at the conference. One was the crucial importance of public acceptance for achieving successful CCS deployment. As in some cases these technologies can be means to achieve a Just Transition, the public must be duly informed and involved; they should be treated as parties in an open dialogue. As a one-sentence summary, it could be stated that an acceleration of CCS deployment can be observed in the region, especially in the cement industry. There are several projects ready to start as soon as 2027/28. To be a competitive cement producer on this market in, there is no other way than to implement CCS.  The momentum for CCS deployment is ever-growing in the region with promising prospects for accelerating deployment within this decade and the next.

Recording from the conference is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43uIGUcvH2M

All the presentations can be accessed here: https://ccs4cee.eu/event/accelerating-ccs-in-central-and-eastern-europe/