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Zero Emissions Platform

ZEP

Zero Emissions Platform is the EU's official advisor on industrial carbon management, working to accelerate deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis (Commissioner) and

4 Dec 2025 · Industrial Accelerator Act

Zero Emissions Platform calls for reinforced CO2 infrastructure funding

29 Oct 2025
Topic — This consultation addresses the EU's long-term budget and infrastructure funding for 2028-2034.
Message — The organization recommends that the EU budget adopts flexible blended financing mechanisms and stronger technical due diligence for carbon capture projects. They also call for harmonised standards for CO2 metering and better coordination with other EU funding instruments.123
Why — More secure public-private funding would bridge the financial gap for large-scale industrial decarbonisation projects.4
Impact — Technologically early-stage projects would lose out as funding is restricted to mature initiatives.5
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Response to European Climate Law amendment

15 Sept 2025

Zero Emission Platform (ZEP) welcomes the European Commissions proposal to establish a 2040 climate target and commends the 90% emissions-reduction ambition. By setting an ambitious target, the EU has the opportunity to demonstrate that climate leadership can drive industrial competitiveness in a carbon-neutral economy. In the attached response, ZEP sets out 5 key recommendations to ground the target in science and ensure that the proposed flexibilities, if adopted, are accompanied by clear and robust safeguards. This will ensure that transparency and integrity are protected and the ambition behind the 90% target is preserved.
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Meeting with Marieke Scholz (Head of Unit Competition)

5 Sept 2025 · Technical and market overview of CO2 capture, transport and storage in the EU and related challenges

ZEP Urges Smarter ETS Spending and Stable Carbon Prices

8 Jul 2025
Topic — Review of the EU Emissions Trading System and Market Stability Reserve policies by 2026.
Message — ZEP recommends more transparent reporting of carbon revenues and increased funding for industrial sectors. They call for a more responsive market reserve to maintain carbon price stability. Finally, they advocate for integrating only strictly certified, permanent carbon removal technologies.12345
Why — Increased funding and price stability would improve the financial viability of industrial carbon management projects.6
Impact — Municipalities and the waste sector face higher operational costs and risks of waste leakage.7
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ZEP Urges Inflation-Adjusted Grants and Carbon Management Auction Expansion

8 Jul 2025
Topic — An evaluation of the European Union's Innovation Fund for climate action technologies.
Message — ZEP requests inflation-adjusted funding to counter long project delays caused by permitting issues. They propose expanding auctions to carbon management and streamlining applications to help smaller companies. Finally, they suggest consortium-based bidding to de-risk investments in shared CO2 infrastructure.123
Why — This would protect projects from rising costs and lower the high barriers for smaller developers.45
Impact — Smaller companies lose access to funding due to high administrative costs and complex documentation.6
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Response to Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act

8 Jul 2025

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is the official advisor to the European Union on industrial carbon management and seeks to accelerate its deployment in line with Europes climate ambition. Our comprehensive technical work and policy advice builds on a broad and diverse member base, ranging from energy producers and industrial companies to infrastructure developers, technology and equipment providers, financial organisations, academia, research institutions, environmental NGOs, trade unions, and other civil society organisations. ZEP wishes to commend the Commission on advancing the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act (IDAA). Advancing the creation of lead markets to drive demand for low carbon products is essential to reaching Europe's climate ambition and maintaining industrial prodution in Europe. CCS and CCU technologies can help in the decarbonisation of various industrial processes. While they are technically proven and demonstrated at large scale, they have not yet fully commercialised, in part because the low-carbon products which result from their production processes suffer from a market failure which prevents their uptake. The IDAA can help to advance lead markets for low carbon industrial production in Europe in the coming years by: Outlining sector-specific plans for establishing lead markets in key sectors, particularly those which are strategically important to Europes economy (cement, steel, fertilisers, chemicals, lime and aluminium). Advancing and support private and public-private initiatives to drive demand. Drafting and harmonising EU standards to establish clear labels for low carbon products Adapting and leverage existing demand in public procurement to mandate demand for low carbon products Proposing mechanisms to drive demand among key stakeholders in industrial value chains, especially where public procurement plays less of a role Simplifying and, where possible, accelerating and aligning project timelines to ensure supply can meet market demand. We welcome the opportunity to provide our full recommendations on how the IDAA can help to achieve these objectives in the attached paper.
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ZEP Urges Stricter Oversight for EU Carbon Removal Verification

1 Jul 2025
Topic — Establishing harmonised rules for verifying carbon removals, storage, and farming activities.
Message — The platform recommends limiting any single stakeholder group to 40% of voting rights. They advocate for a central EU registry of disqualified operators to prevent 'scheme hopping'. The group also calls for 'high-assurance' audits to ensure environmental integrity.123
Why — Increased system integrity would protect the credibility and market value of carbon removal projects.4
Impact — Non-compliant operators would lose the ability to evade sanctions by switching between certification schemes.5
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Meeting with Alexandre Paquot (Director Climate Action)

10 Jun 2025 · Key priorities for Europe’s industrial carbon management agenda

Zero Emissions Platform urges fair distribution of CO2 storage duties

16 Apr 2025
Topic — Consultation on identifying oil and gas producers' contributions to CO2 storage targets.
Message — The platform calls for a fair distribution of storage obligations and exemptions for smaller companies. They seek clearer definitions regarding corporate changes and more precise reporting for actual injection capacity.12
Why — Clearer reporting rules and small company exemptions would reduce administrative costs and legal uncertainty.34
Impact — Larger producers face higher costs if exempted capacity is reallocated to them unfairly.5
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Meeting with Miguel Jose Garcia Jones (Cabinet of Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra)

6 Mar 2025 · Presentation of ZEP and exchange of views on the Clean Industrial Deal.

Meeting with Tom Berendsen (Member of the European Parliament)

16 Jan 2025 · Carbon emissions

Meeting with Ingeborg Ter Laak (Member of the European Parliament)

16 Jan 2025 · Carbon Capture Storage

Zero Emissions Platform Urges Robust Monitoring for Low-Carbon Fuels

25 Oct 2024
Topic — New methodology for calculating greenhouse gas emission savings from low-carbon fuels.
Message — ZEP calls for a robust monitoring framework for methane and hydrogen leakage. They also demand clear system boundaries and strict emission intensity rules for hydrogen production.12
Why — Regulatory clarity would help ZEP members make industrial carbon capture projects commercially feasible.3
Impact — Non-EU storage operators could face higher costs to meet strict European remediation requirements.4
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Meeting with Jeannette Baljeu (Member of the European Parliament)

1 Oct 2024 · CCS in the port of Rotterdam

Zero Emissions Platform Backs EU Permanent Carbon Storage Standards

15 Jul 2024
Topic — This consultation defines conditions for permanently storing captured carbon dioxide in manufactured products.
Message — ZEP supports requirements for permanent capture where CO2 is permanently chemically bound. They advocate for mineralization and products lasting over 100 years.12
Why — Clear standards provide the right conditions for deploying industrial carbon management technologies.3
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Meeting with Maroš Šefčovič (Executive Vice-President) and

22 Mar 2024 · Clean Transition Dialogue with the Steel Sector

Meeting with Margrethe Vestager (Executive Vice-President) and

22 Mar 2024 · Discussion of current challenges facing the European Steel sector attended by private industry as well as Ministers and official representatives of Italy, Romania, Poland, Czechia, Belgium, Hungary and Luxembourg

Meeting with Daniel Mes (Cabinet of Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra)

18 Mar 2024 · Discuss the key policy tasks for the upcoming Industrial Carbon Management Strategy and exchange views on a potential Industrial Partnership for CCS in Europe

Meeting with Daniel Mes (Cabinet of Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra)

18 Mar 2024 · Industrial carbon management strategy

Meeting with Ditte Juul-Joergensen (Director-General Energy) and BUSINESSEUROPE and

22 Feb 2024 · Energy market

Meeting with Maroš Šefčovič (Executive Vice-President) and

22 Feb 2024 · Clean Transition Dialogue on Clean Technologies

Zero Emissions Platform urges fast EU carbon management rollout

31 Aug 2023
Topic — The EU is consulting on strategies to deploy carbon capture and storage technologies.
Message — ZEP calls for the rapid implementation of a strategy for industrial carbon management. They request a regulatory framework for open-access transport and an updated European storage atlas.123
Why — These measures would reduce financial risks for developers and speed up infrastructure project approvals.45
Impact — Private pipeline operators may lose exclusive network control under proposed open-access and tariff regulations.67
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Zero Emissions Platform Urges Equal Rules for All CO2 Transport

22 Aug 2023
Topic — Updating rules for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions within the EU ETS framework.
Message — ZEP proposes including all transport modes in regulatory definitions. They request rules allowing emissions subtraction for these modes and clarification on synchronizing cargo monitoring.123
Why — This ensures carbon capture technologies remain a cost-efficient pathway for industrial decarbonization.4
Impact — Pipeline operators lose their exclusive regulatory advantage as other transport modes receive equal treatment.5
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Zero Emissions Platform Urges Inclusion of Full CCS Value Chain

27 Jun 2023
Topic — The consultation concerns proposed legislation to scale up net-zero technology manufacturing.
Message — The organization requests that all parts of the carbon capture value chain receive faster permitting. They also seek clarity on mandatory contributions for oil and gas companies.12
Why — Streamlined administrative procedures will reduce project delays and improve investment predictability.34
Impact — Oil and gas producers may face penalties and strict obligations for storage capacity.5
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Meeting with Ruud Kempener (Cabinet of Commissioner Kadri Simson)

20 Jun 2023 · Introduction to ZEP's Zero-Emission Platform and its activities

Zero Emissions Platform urges clear permanent carbon storage rules

23 Mar 2023
Topic — The Commission is establishing a regulatory framework for certifying high-quality carbon removals.
Message — ZEP demands a robust definition that excludes mere emission reductions from removals. They also want biogenic carbon capture in the waste-to-energy sector to be eligible for certification.12
Why — Granting industrial removals certification would unlock significant new revenue for the waste sector.3
Impact — Nature-based projects lose their equal status if the framework prioritizes geological storage.4
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Response to European Critical Raw Materials Act

25 Nov 2022

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) welcomes the upcoming initiative aimed at safeguarding the supply of critical raw materials through a package on Critical Raw Materials. ZEP would further like to note that bottlenecks and supply chain dependences and vulnerabilities may well pose a risk for the future deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) technologies in the EU, which are essential the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors (e.g., cement, steel) and to deliver carbon removals. In this context, the European Critical Raw Materials Act comes at a crucial time in the EUs roadmap to net zero. Please find attached ZEP's detailed feedback.
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Response to Union guidelines for the development of the TEN-T network amended proposal

20 Jul 2022

You will find attached the Zero Emissions Platform feedback.
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Response to Regulation on REPowerEU chapters

20 Jul 2022

You will find attached the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) feedback.
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Meeting with Tatiana Marquez Uriarte (Cabinet of Commissioner Kadri Simson)

22 Jun 2022 · CCS & REPowerEU

Response to Carbon Removal Certification

25 Mar 2022

The feedback of the Zero Emissions Platform can be found in attachment.
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Response to Revision of the guidelines for trans-European Energy infrastructure

29 Jan 2021

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) and acts as the EU’s technical adviser on the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) under Horizon2020 R&I programme (grant agreement 826051). ZEP supports the European Union’s commitment to reach climate neutrality by 2050, defined as net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. To this end, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies play a crucial role. These technologies represent a readily available, cost-efficient pathway for the decarbonisation of industrial and energy sectors in the European Union. ZEP is pleased to give feedback on the public consultation on 'Trans-European energy infrastructure – revision of guidelines'. The full text is available as an attachment to this response.
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Response to Climate change mitigation and adaptation taxonomy

18 Dec 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), and acts as the EU’s technical adviser on the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) under Horizon2020 R&I programme (grant agreement 826051). ZEP supports the European Union’s commitment to reach climate neutrality by 2050, defined as net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. To this end, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies play a crucial role. These technologies represent a readily available, cost-efficient pathway for the decarbonisation of industrial and energy sectors in the European Union. ZEP is pleased to provide input to the consultation on the draft delegated acts, outlined as follows: 1. Comments on the principles of the European Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance 2. Hydrogen threshold 3. Electricity threshold 4. CO2 transport 5. Biomass with CCS 6. Waste-to-Energy with CCS 7. Carbon Capture and Utilisation The full document is hereby attached.
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Response to Revision of the EU Emission Trading System Monitoring and Reporting Regulation (MRR)

24 Jul 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), and acts as the EU’s technical adviser on the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) under Horizon2020 R&I programme (grant agreement 727582). ZEP supports the European Union’s commitment to reach climate neutrality by 2050, defined as net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. To this end, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies play a crucial role . These technologies represent a readily available, cost-efficient pathway for the decarbonisation of industrial and energy sectors in the European Union. In the context of the revision of the EU ETS Monitoring and reporting rules, ZEP would like to make the following contribution: • All CO2 transport modalities – pipeline, ship, barge, truck, and train – should be included in the EU ETS. Thus, the ETS monitoring and reporting rules should be updated to reflect this. This change should apply to art. 3 (55), definitions, and to annex IV (22), determination of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport of CO2 by pipelines for geological storage in a storage site permitted under directive 2009/31/EC, of the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2066. As is the case in the European Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, this should be harmonised in relevant pieces of legislation connected to the EU ETS. CO2 transport and storage infrastructure is crucial to connect CO2 emitters in industrial clusters to storage sites, opening up access to permanent geological storage of captured CO2. Europe is well positioned to develop cross-border, shared CO2 transport and storage infrastructure, both via pipeline and by other modalities such as ship, barge, truck, and rail. This would send a strong signal to private investors and industry. With secure access to storage sites, more CO2 industrial emitters are likely to invest in capture projects, bringing down costs of capture technologies. Additionally, upcoming CCS projects – including those in the fourth PCI list – rely on CO2 shipping to connect capture and storage sites. Without the possibility to transport CO2 by ship and other modalities, these projects would be put at risk of not becoming operational. This scenario must be avoided, as CCS and CO2 infrastructure are prime options for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries, where electrification is too costly or not feasible. Based on the considerations outlined above, ZEP notes that the current proposed quantification methodologies for CO2 calculation may need to be adapted to account for all GHG emissions deriving from CO2 transport means other than pipeline. Please download the attached document for further references.
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Meeting with Frans Timmermans (Executive Vice-President)

9 Jul 2020 · CCUS technologies and projects around the EU. State of play, next steps and role in the delivery of the European Green Deal.

Meeting with Aleksandra Tomczak (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

10 Jun 2020 · Preparation of meeting with EVP Timmermans

Response to Revision of the guidelines for trans-European Energy infrastructure

8 Jun 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), and acts as the EU’s technical adviser on the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU). ZEP supports the European Union’s commitment to climate neutrality by 2050, defined as net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. To this end, CCS and CCU technologies play a crucial role. ZEP is pleased to provide input for the revision of the TEN-E guidelines and invites all interested stakeholders to download the appended report for an extended response.
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Response to A EU hydrogen strategy

8 Jun 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), and acts as technical adviser on the deployment of CCS and CCU under Horizon 2020 R&I programme. ZEP invites all interested stakeholders to download the appended report for an extended response. A summary is provided hereafter. ZEP supports the EU’s commitment to climate neutrality by 2050, defined as net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Clean hydrogen will be a key technology for reducing emissions and achieving climate neutrality, since it provides a stable and flexible energy system, whilst meeting the needs and demands of the electricity, heat, transport and industrial sectors. Clean hydrogen production is central to the development of several proposed industrial decarbonisation projects in the Netherlands and the UK . The estimated cost of production of clean hydrogen from natural gas with CCS at scale up to 2030 is approximately USD 6 billion, compared to unabated hydrogen production. In comparison, producing the same volumes of hydrogen with electrolysis would cost approximately USD 20 billion, based on the assumption of a 100% renewable electricity grid . To ensure that hydrogen can be deployed at scale in Europe before 2050, investment in CO2 infrastructure will be required . Cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure will connect industrial clusters – including clean hydrogen production facilities, creating an infrastructure backbone to which industrial emitters can plug in to benefit from the applications for CCS. This shared infrastructure is a strategic policy decision; safeguarding jobs, industrial activity, and economic growth, thus preserving Europe’s welfare and future-proofing Europe for a climate-neutral economy. Enabling early, large volumes of clean hydrogen will provide a strong signal to industry and member states to invest in hydrogen infrastructure, supply chains, appliances, and industrial fuel switching. In the shorter term, hydrogen produced from reformed natural gas with CCS can already be applied on a large scale as part of the energy supply for high-temperature heating in the chemical industry, oil-refining industry and electricity production. In the longer-term, hydrogen can also be produced based on renewable electricity via electrolysis, and subsequently join the hydrogen market created by the frontrunner projects based on reformed natural gas with CCS. ZEP calls on the European Commission to clarify how it will encourage and integrate the clean hydrogen economy – from production, to wholesale markets, regulation and end-use. There is no “one size fits all” solution for clean hydrogen, and a technology-neutral approach is crucial. However, for any electricity grid-connected clean hydrogen manufacturing to be defined as sustainable according to the Taxonomy, there is a need to correct an obvious error in the screening criteria for hydrogen manufacturing in the technical annex to the Taxonomy report . The third threshold, “Average carbon intensity of the electricity produced that is used for hydrogen manufacturing is at or below 100 gCO2e/kWh”, will effectively exclude all electricity grid-connected hydrogen manufacturing sites, regardless of technology used. ZEP suggests the third threshold be deleted, as it is redundant, and the first threshold delivers the environmental benefit. If this third threshold will be preserved in the delegated act, ZEP recommends to introduce guarantees of origin to ensure that grid-connected manufacturing of clean hydrogen and aluminium receives renewable electricity, and thus can be deemed as sustainable by the Taxonomy. RED II allows for several options for origin of electricity for production of renewable fuels of non-biological origin, of which one is electricity from the grid, if it can be proven that it is fully renewable.
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Response to Strategy for smart sector integration

8 Jun 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), and acts as technical adviser on the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) under Horizon 2020 R&I programme. ZEP is pleased to provide input to the European Strategy for Smart Sector Integration and invites all interested stakeholders to download the appended document for an extended response. A short overview of the response is provided hereafter. ZEP supports the EU’s objective of climate neutrality by 2050. While designing a strategy for a net-zero compliant energy system, ZEP believes that a technology-neutral approach should be privileged. All low-carbon technologies, such as CCS and CCU, that are scientifically proven and readily available, should be deployed to support a cost-efficient trajectory to climate neutrality. Through the upcoming strategy for energy system integration, the European Commission should especially support those projects that will underpin the development of cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure, thereby supporting projects along the CCS industrial chain. ZEP emphasizes the importance of the strategic development of CO2 infrastructure to ensure the large-scale decarbonisation of European industrial and energy sectors, while continuing to invest in the scale up of renewable energy sources. CO2 transport and storage infrastructure is also instrumental in delivering early, large-scale volumes of low-carbon hydrogen produced from reformed natural gas with CCS, which will enable many industrial processes to be redesigned to avoid CO2 emissions. The upcoming Strategy for energy system integration presents opportunities for a range of decarbonised gases to be considered. While the role of hydrogen in a net-zero economy is generally acknowledged, the European Commission should consider all options that would support the achievement of EU’s climate goals by 2050, creating a favourable policy framework for their production, transportation and use. A European Strategy for energy system integration should consider the use of low-carbon gases, providing clear definitions about carbon intensity that would be compliant with climate neutrality and enabling a favourable policy landscape for their deployment.
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Response to Climate Law

30 Apr 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) supports the European Union’s commitment to climate neutrality by 2050, defined as net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 and welcomes the Climate Law’s approach to 2050. To this end, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies play a crucial role. These technologies represent a readily available, cost-efficient pathway for decarbonisation of industrial and energy sectors in the European Union. As shown by several modelling scenarios , large volumes of CCS will be needed for the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The European Climate Law is establishing a framework for climate neutrality by 2050 and the European Commission has also announced plans to increase 2030 GHG emissions reduction targets. ZEP would like to stress that increased intermediate targets can only be met if readily available low-carbon technologies (CCS and CCU) are effectively deployed at scale within this decade. The deployment of cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure in the European Union is crucial to enable large-scale decarbonisation that will be needed to be climate neutral by 2050. Such infrastructure will unlock the benefits of CCS and CCU and substantially decrease emissions from energy-intensive industrial processes while transitioning towards low-carbon production. CCS is a crucial technology to support the production of clean hydrogen from natural gas. Producing large volumes of a low-carbon hydrogen will prove to be central towards building a hydrogen economy and the related infrastructure in the next decades. While the European Climate Law remains technology-neutral and all solutions should be deployed, technologies for carbon dioxide removal will be needed to address residual emissions and must therefore be one of the tools at disposal to reach net-zero by 2050. The full response and references are hereby provided in the attachment.
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Meeting with Aleksandra Tomczak (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans), Diederik Samsom (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans), Riccardo Maggi (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

28 Apr 2020 · European Green Deal

Response to Climate change mitigation and adaptation taxonomy

24 Apr 2020

ZEP is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), and acts as the EU’s technical adviser on the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU). ZEP is pleased to give input to the Inception Impact Assessment on Sustainable Taxonomy. Reaching net-zero greenhouse (GHG) emissions by 2050 will prove to be an unprecedented challenge for European citizens, regions and industries. The transition towards a low-carbon European economy will require the development and large-scale deployment of all readily available low-carbon technologies, such as CCS and CCU technologies. Public and private investments will be needed to preserve existing jobs across key industrial value chains while creating new ones and to ensure that European regions and industries remain competitive while decarbonising. To this end, the alignment of the delegated acts and the Taxonomy Regulation with other European legislation will be critical to ensure the objectives of the Regulation are realised and sustainable growth in the EU is achieved. Please download the attachment to read the full text.
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Response to 2030 Climate Target Plan

15 Apr 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) is a European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) under the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technologies Plan (SET-Plan), and acts as the EU’s technical adviser on the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU). ZEP welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Inception Impact Assessment for the Roadmap on 2030 Climate Target Plan. Reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in a cost-efficient way remains the primary focus. Reaching net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 is the primary goal of the European Union’s climate action. This objective will bring about unprecedented challenges for European citizens, regions and industries, and the industrial transition will require the deployment of all technologies available. The European Union will need to preserve existing jobs across key industrial value chains while creating new ones and ensure that European regions and industries become attractive for clean investments, remaining competitive while decarbonising. With a legally binding objective of climate neutrality by 2050, it is critical that the European Union undertakes prompt action to start a just transition towards 2050 in a cost-efficient manner. A Europe-wide CO2 transport and storage infrastructure will need to be urgently deployed to unlock the benefits of the readily available low-carbon technologies, such as CCS and CCU, across European regions. This shared CO2 infrastructure will enable the early, large-scale production of clean hydrogen from natural gas with CCS and, ultimately, a clean hydrogen economy. Furthermore, cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure will enable the development of carbon dioxide removal technologies for negative emissions, which will be needed to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The investments that will be required to develop and deploy a CO2 transport and storage infrastructure and upscale CCS and CCU technologies will need to be compliant with the provisions of the European Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance. Together with the objective of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, the European Taxonomy will be key in driving the transition towards a climate-neutral European economy. The Taxonomy will give clear guidance on how the financial sector can engage in the energy transition and invest sustainably, driving forward the EU climate and clean growth agenda. Urgent action needs to be taken now to ensure that European Union pursues a cost-efficient pathway towards net-zero. The Regulation on the governance of the energy union and climate action currently defines a trajectory towards 2030, setting out national and collective targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction. National energy and climate plans (NECPs) are part of the energy union regulatory framework and will be used to monitor national trajectories towards 2030, as well as to keep track of the collective progression. The NECPs provide a good overview of measures and policies that will be implemented locally to keep track of the journey towards the 2030 targets. According to the provisions of the European Climate Law, the NECPs will be assessed on a five-year basis to monitor member states’ individual and collective performance. Such timeframe will allow for member states to adjust their trajectory when needed, hence making the NECPs a useful tool in the implementation and monitoring of 2030 targets. Regardless of whether the European Commission will review these legislations according to climate neutrality by 2050, urgent action needs to be taken to ensure that European Union pursues a cost-efficient pathway towards net-zero. Any intermediate targets should ultimately support and help deliver a consistent transition towards the goal of climate neutrality by 2050, supporting quick action and deploying all low-carbon technologies readily available.
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Response to Climate Law

6 Feb 2020

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) supports the European Commission’s objective of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 and welcomes the plan to present a European Climate Law to achieve climate-neutrality by 2050, as announced in the Communication on a European Green Deal . As a legally binding piece of legislation, the Climate Law should provide a legal framework for joint European climate action to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. It will be crucial to harmonise existing legislations such as the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), the EU ETS Directive and the Effort Sharing Regulation, in compliance with the new EU climate targets. This would include resetting intermediate targets of said regulations and directives, if needed.There should be consistency and harmonisation between the European and national legislative frameworks in the goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. Achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 requires significant investments in research, development and deployment of ready-to-use low-carbon technologies, as well as urgent actions on all emissions, including the hard to mitigate sectors such as heating of buildings and energy intensive industries, heavy-duty and maritime transport. Alongside these priorities, there is also a need to support carbon removal technologies. More funding mechanisms and resources will need to be mobilised to support the transition towards net-zero. The European Commission has set out its vision for a climate-neutral 2050, including CCS and CCU in several of its modelled scenarios. In particular, the only climate modelling scenarios which achieve the 1.5˚ target, include large-scale deployment of CCS and CCU technologies in Europe. For Europe to achieve net-zero by 2050, urgent deployment of CCS technologies including CO2 storage and transport infrastructure is crucial. Large-scale deployment of CCS will be needed to ensure a competitive, industrial decarbonisation path and to safeguard EU’s economic competitiveness. The urgent roll-out of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure will ultimately unlock the benefits of CCS and CCU for the industrial sectors. CCS technologies will support the transition to low-carbon industrial, transport and heating sectors by enabling the production of early, large-scale low-carbon hydrogen from natural gas. Additionally, CCS technologies can be implemented to enable climate positive solutions (negative emissions).The European Parliament’s resolution on EGD calls on the European Commission to “include of intermediate EU targets for 2030 and 2040 by the time of the adoption by the co-legislators, based on impact assessments as well as a strong governance framework”. ZEP believes that the European Commission should adopt intermediate targets which should be subject to impact assessment and, when needed, revisions to ensure consistency with the goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. Given the European Commission’s ambition to achieve net-zero by 2050, urgent deployment of CCS technologies including CO2 storage and net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, the new European Climate Law should strive to set the foundations for decarbonisation at scale.Several European countries are adopting legally binding targets in their legislation. This reinforces the role of the NECPs as a mechanism to implement and monitor the progress of the new Climate Law. There is already an existing structure for the NECPs, surrounded by a robust and transparent reporting legislative mechanism, where both Member States and the European Commission are involved.
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Response to European Partnership for Clean Hydrogen

27 Aug 2019

ZEP is strongly supportive of proposed initiative, the revised scope, involving more partners and strengthening the synergies with other EU and Member State programmes to catalyse deployment of near-zero hydrogen at scale. ZEP also believes that mapping of policy, option 2, is the preferred approach. The importance of the opportunity created by the development of a large scale, near-zero hydrogen sector in Europe and the scale of the challenge associated with the market failures for first movers and the fragmentation among players does necessitate the development of the more ambitious option 2. ZEP would like to make the following points on the Inception Impact Assessment; • Referring to the European Commission President-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, and her Agenda for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent, the transition towards a clean, near-zero hydrogen economy can play a role but this can only be realised through coherent and consistent regulation and financial support mechanisms. We support the expanded scope of the European Partnership Clean Hydrogen and recommend that amount of investment should be reflective of the scale required to kickstart a cross-sectoral European clean hydrogen economy. • ZEP believes it is critical that the new partnership should adopt a technology neutral approach to low carbon hydrogen production. The inception Impact Assessment document does not define near-zero hydrogen, but this should include support all production pathways, e.g. electrolysis with low carbon electricity, the reforming of natural gas fitted with CCS and bioenergy routes. Clean hydrogen, produced from fossil fuels and combined with CCS, can have an important role to ensure a sustainable, competitive and equitable transition to net zero by 2050. The potential to combine CCS with sustainable bioenergy can create the possibility of negative emissions, a net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. This shows that equipping hydrogen production processes with CCS, will result in “near-zero carbon” hydrogen (or even “below-zero” hydrogen) and that the current use of classifications like “green” and “blue” hydrogen are overly simplistic and do not effectively provide insight to the climate impact. • ZEP is supportive of the recognition of applying the technology to multiple sectors and multiple end users to enable the European hydrogen economy to return maximum economic and environmental benefits. Therefore, we support the focus of the partnership’s research and innovation initiatives expansion beyond mobility to the use of near-zero emissions across multiple sectors, ranging from power generation, fuel and feedstock switching for industry and domestic heating. Hydrogen production from current manufacturing processes equipped with CCS, e.g. Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) or Auto Thermal Reforming (ATR) of natural gas, can today be produced at less than half the cost of electrolysis derived hydrogen and can be an accelerator of the hydrogen economy. While the possible volumes of hydrogen being produced by renewable electricity and electrolysis are currently limited (and keeping in mind that the current electricity grid mix in most countries will not be low carbon) the use of natural gas reformed hydrogen with CCS can enable the production of the large clean hydrogen volumes needed to establish early markets. • ZEP is also very supportive of the recognition in the Inception Impact Assessment of the importance of an approach that combines research-based supply-push (low TRL) and market-oriented demand-pull measures (high TRL) in order to ensure a successful transition to market-readiness. It is crucial to stimulate innovation along the entire hydrogen value chain from low technology readiness levels all the way to the market to accelerate commercial-scale deployment as well as drive innovation and cost-reduction. Multiple projects are already capturing CO2 from the hydrogen production process.
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Meeting with Robert Schröder (Cabinet of Commissioner Carlos Moedas)

19 Jun 2019 · Clean energy R&I

Meeting with Grzegorz Radziejewski (Cabinet of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen) and Weber Shandwick

23 May 2019 · CCS role in economic activity and in industrial value chains

Response to Commission Delegated Regulation establishing the Innovation Fund

11 Jan 2019

Please see attached comments from ZEP on the Draft regulation
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Meeting with Rolf Carsten Bermig (Cabinet of Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska)

7 Nov 2018 · decarbonisation

Meeting with Mauro Raffaele Petriccione (Director-General Climate Action)

19 Jul 2018 · CCS deployment in Europe

Meeting with Silvia Bartolini (Cabinet of Vice-President Miguel Arias Cañete)

7 Jun 2017 · SETPLAN/ CCS CCU

Meeting with Jos Delbeke (Director-General Climate Action)

7 Jun 2017 · Development of the CCS market and expert consultation on the Innovation Fund

Meeting with Dominique Ristori (Director-General Energy)

21 Mar 2017 · European energy policy