The German government is planning to allow industrial companies to separate and store their CO2 emissions using the “Carbon Capture and Storage” (CCS) method, with the goal of implementing the policy by mid-to-end October 2025. According to a confidential ministry document, the proposed legislation has been presented to Minister Katherina Reiche for review.
The ministry’s experts have based their plans on a previous draft from the previous legislative period, which was attempted by the collapsed coalition government. The new draft bill largely builds upon the previous one, the document states.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) views CCS as a crucial tool for addressing hard-to-abate emissions, such as those in the cement, steel and chemical industries. However, the IPCC also warns that plans to extract CO2 from the atmosphere could undermine the incentives for immediate emissions reduction. Moreover, CCS projects have so far proven to be expensive and difficult to scale, lagging behind planned capacity.
A significant challenge lies in ensuring that the stored emissions remain trapped in the storage facilities, as leaks could have negative consequences for the environment and groundwater.