Chapter 5 - Industrial carbon management

The 2040 climate target impact assessment shows that up to 300 million tonnes of CO₂ would need to be captured and approximately 200 million tonnes of CO₂ stored by 2040 to meet the proposed 2040 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90%. Approximately 450 million tonnes of CO₂ would need to be captured and roughly 250 million tonnes of CO₂ stored by mid-century. The Industrial Carbon Management strategy sets out a vision and proposes a list of actions to reach these targets.

CO₂ can be captured to prevent it from being released into the atmosphere, and then either stored or used. These practices are known as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). Most of the CO₂ expected to be captured should come from industrial processes (e.g. waste incineration or clinker plants) feedstocks.

Captured CO₂ can also be of a biogenic or atmospheric origin. Biogenic CO₂ is produced through biological processes and can be captured from biomass power plants or waste-to-energy plants, for instance. Atmospheric CO₂ is found naturally in the atmosphere. Capturing and permanently storing CO₂ of biogenic or atmospheric origin is a practice known as permanent carbon removals.

Figure 21: Scheme of carbon capture, utilisation and storage

Text version

The Industrial Carbon Management strategy is an important step towards a more homogenous deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) and permanent carbon removals in Europe. The strategy supports the creation of a single market for CO₂ transport and storage services throughout Europe by 2030.

Adopted in late 2024, the Carbon Removal Certification Framework sets EU rules to measure and verify high-quality carbon removal activities. It is intended to support the voluntary market and could provide a basis for the future integration of domestic permanent removals into the EU ETS. The 2025 Clean Industrial Deal ties climate goals to industrial competitiveness, prioritising carbon capture, utilisation and storage for hard-to-abate sectors and signalling a possible EU ETS change to reward permanent CO₂ storage.

Since December 2024, Member States must submit an annual progress report on carbon capture, transport and storage needs. This report contains:

• ongoing CO₂ capture, storage and transport projects,
• corresponding needs for injection and storage capacities,
• national support measures, strategies, and targets on the CO₂ capture.

All Member States annual reports are available on the carbon storage target website.

The EU aims to create an EU market for CO₂ storage services. To achieve that, the Net-Zero Industry Act sets an EU CO₂ injection capacity target of at least 50 million tonnes per year by 2030 and obligates 44 EU oil and gas producers to achieve this target. These producers must develop annual CO₂ injection capacity in the EU by 2030 [44]. From 2025, the European Commission will publish an annual report on progress towards reaching the target.

By 30 June 2025, producers had to submit a detailed plan to the Commission explaining how they are preparing to contribute to the EU’s 2030 CO₂ injection capacity target. These plans should confirm the volume of new CO₂ storage and injection capacity they aim to have ready by 2030 and specify the methods and intermediate targets they will use to achieve this. As of 30 June 2026, oil and gas producers must report annually to the Commission, detailing their progress towards the target. The Commission will make these reports publicly available.