Accelerating a Europe-wide CO2 storage market

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Accelerating a Europe-wide CO₂ storage market

This report is based on modelling and analysis by Xodus Group and demonstrates that enabling cross-border CO₂ transport and storage is critical for reducing emissions efficiently and on time.

The study suggests that expanding the CO₂ market across Europe, including the UK, is an effective way to lower emissions and storage costs. On average, emitters in Europe using offshore CO₂ storage would benefit from a 20% cost saving, with emitters in North-West Europe seeing an average saving of 28%.

Policy remains the largest obstacle to transporting CO₂ across the EU-UK border, which would otherwise be technically feasible. The report sets out concrete actions that the European Commission and the UK Government can take to send a strong signal to European businesses and make cross-border CO₂ storage both legally possible and economically attractive. These actions include:

• Establish a bilateral agreement between the EU and the UK under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) to enable mutual recognition of each jurisdiction’s CCS regulatory regime.
• Amend the EU and UK Emission Trading Schemes to accommodate CO₂ storage outside the jurisdictions that they cover.

Download the report