January 10, 2024
By Nikolaus J. Kurmayer

 German industry joins forces with green groups on CO2 capture

A group of Germany's most influential lobby groups have demanded Berlin present a carbon management strategy. [Shutterstock]

Some of Germany’s most influential business and green lobbying groups have joined forces to urge Berlin to quickly adopt a carbon management strategy in order to kickstart the country’s industrial transformation.

As the European Commission prepares its carbon management strategy for publication on 6 February, German associations are urging Berlin to publish its own – and weigh in on the EU debate.

“The carbon management strategy must now be published quickly. Without it, there will be no clarity about the role of CCS [carbon capture and storage] and CCU [carbon capture and utilisation] in Germany,” Holger Lösch, deputy director of the influential industry association BDI, said on Wednesday (10 January).

Together with environmental groups NABU and WWF, as well as trade union DGB, the BDI has issued a joint appeal for a German carbon management strategy.

“We call on the German government to present a carbon management strategy that fulfils strict quality criteria, creates clarity and encourages participation,” explained Vivianne Raddatz, who heads WWF’s Berlin office.

In their joint position – and these actors rarely act in unison – the groups want to provide a baseline and speed up the discussion process.

“We stand behind the principle of CO2 avoidance and reduction before capture,” they argue, hoping to assuage concerns that carbon capture and storage is being used as a fig leaf for lacking climate action.

A carbon management strategy should “ensure” that electrification, energy efficiency, renewables, circular and hydrogen economy and boosting natural carbon sinks aren’t “thwarted by the use of CCS and CCU,” their joint statement reads.

The alliance calls for “priority” use of CCS and CCU, where captured carbon is used, rather than stored, in sectors where current technology does not allow for abatement. They also call for “public funds” to “trigger private investment”. 

Many of these points were previously considered contentious among environmental groups and industry. But, “time is of the essence”, they now argue since Brussels is putting the finishing touches on its European carbon management strategy. 

“We are calling for close coordination between Berlin and Brussels in shaping the political framework conditions along the entire value chain,” they say.

Public consultations for the German strategy started in March 2023. “The work is already well advanced and is being driven forward at full speed,” a spokesman of the ministry of economy and climate action (BMWK) told Euractiv.

But the German strategy, once it is out, will only be a first step in the process, the BDI notes. “Only then, according to the BMWK, will the legal framework be adapted so that CCS and CCU can actually be used – this is likely to take a long time again,” said BDI’s Lösch.

Change in perspective

Carbon capture and storage is a controversial technology among environmental activists, who fear it will be used as an excuse to continue burning fossil fuels.

But the tide began to turn when scientists at the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) began stressing the need for CCS more loudly.  

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and numerous scientific studies emphasise the necessity of CCS and CCU for climate protection,” said Lösch.

The alliance’s paper reflects this approach, saying discussions on CCS and CCU “must be based on scientific scenarios”.

The WWF’s Raddatz, who recently warned against over-reliance on CCS as a solution to mitigate global warming, said “successful survival requires change rather than stagnation”.

Politically, the way is now open. The Greens, who used to be the most vocal opponent of the technology, signalled a change in their approach in late 2023 by inserting pro-CCS language in their 2024 EU election manifesto.

The influential trade union DGB co-signing the paper signals that the social democrats are on board too.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic and Frédéric Simon]