Funding of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects

30.9.2020

Question for written answer E-005352/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Rosa D'Amato (NI)

The Commission has published a call to provide funding for low-carbon projects, including CO₂ capture and storage projects (CCS).

The European Court of Auditors has certified the failure of CCS technology after having examined the results of the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR). The six projects were either cancelled or wound up, without ever having become operational, except for the pilot plant in Spain, which did not, however, demonstrate the use of CCS on a real scale[1].

As regards the European Innovation Fund call, ENI intends to put forward its project for the new Ravenna hub, to exploit depleted offshore gas fields in the Middle Adriatic.

The need to store CO₂ at high pressure in old fields at a depth of 800 m or out at sea entails numerous risks, especially in earthquake-prone areas such as Emilia Romagna, classified as a medium-to-high seismic risk area.

Can the Commission say whether:

• 1.in its view, CCS technology is safe enough to be used in seismic risk areas;
• 2.it does not consider it pointless to fund projects involving CO₂ storage given the considerations of the European Court of Auditors;
• 3.it will report on the latest developments in the CCS demonstration projects, about which the public was supposed to be informed by the end of 2015?

• [1] https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/SR18_24/SR_CCS_EN.pdf.