At the end of March 2023, a workshop addressed to CCS stakeholders from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region was held. Organised by the CCS4CEE project consortium, it was dedicated to the topic of funding and financing CCS in CEE. The event attracted more than 100 online participants and was packed with important presentations from representatives of EU and Member State institutions, companies active in the CCS sector, and research organisations.
After an introduction by our two co-hosts: Valts Ulmanis from Civitta and Luciana Miu from Energy Policy Group, Daniel Kitscha from DG CLIMA (European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action) explained the rules and upcoming deadlines for applying for the Innovation Fund. Mr. Kitscha highlighted CCS is one of the 5 innovative technologies necessary to reach climate neutrality by 2050, reflected in the number of CCS projects awarded funding under the Innovation Fund.
In the second presentation, Dimitrios Koufos from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development underlined that reaching the goal of the Paris Agreement will require massive deployment of CCS by 2050, and highlighted the role of EBRD in supporting the deployment of such projects. He also emphasized the importance of public acceptance for CCS deployment.
Kathrine Thomsen from the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities presented the Danish state aid support scheme for large-scale CCS roll-out. Later, during the Q&A session, she pointed out that a year ago CO2 storage was not accepted in Denmark, while today there are numerous CCS initiatives in the country.
In his presentation titled “CCS to address negative transition impacts: opportunities from the Just Transition Fund” Sander Happaerts from DG REGIO (European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy) introduced the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM), the work of Just Transition Platform (JTP) and explained the conditions under which they are able to support CCS deployment in Europe. Mr. Happaerts also highlighted the just transition implications of deploying CCS projects, underlining the importance of having a CCS project pipeline that is fair and transparent.
The second part of the workshop began with a presentation by Christian Buch Hansen from Northern Lights. He explained the functioning of their transport and storage infrastructure and gave a general view of CCS and what approach is needed in this topic, as well as touched upon the financing aspects of this project.
Karel Voldřich from International Sustainable Finance Centre presented the benefits and obstacles related to green bonds for CCS financing. He also gave particular examples of green bonds issued in other sectors.
Kristin Jordal from SINTEF familiarized the audience with Horizon Europe and other transnational funding opportunities, including the Clean Energy Transition Partnership and EEA Grants. Several project examples were also highlighted, such as ACCSESS and EnerGizerS.
Finally, Jan Theulen from Heidelberg Materials talked about the ANRAV project in Bulgaria, which will receive support from the Innovation Fund, and hinted at the elements that are important in the process of applying for funding for a CCS project. Several key takeaways about the future of the Innovation Fund were also suggested in the presentation.
Interesting discussions arose during both Q&A sessions. You can revisit them through the recording available here.
Stakeholders’ voices are an important part of the CCS4CEE project, and the workshop was a response to one of the pertinent issues raised by these stakeholders: the availability of funding and financing for CCS projects. The event presented different perspectives on this topic with the conclusion that there are increasingly more opportunities for funding and financing CCS projects across Central and Eastern Europe. We hope to have been able to provide an insight into several of these opportunities that will ultimately result in more CCS projects in the region supporting long-term industrial decarbonization goals.
Karolina Szyller
