Europe is sticking to its guns by reaffirming an ambitious commitment to 80-95 per cent emissions cuts by 2050. Electricity will still play a central role, almost totally eliminating CO₂ emissions by 2050 and the industrial sector industry cutting up to per cent. The main thrust of a report published in March, entitled ‘Roadmap for building a competitive low-carbon Europe by 2050’, is that these cuts are still feasible and cost effective.  The cuts in emissions laid out for a low carbon Europe in 2050 represent 25 per cent by 2020, 40 per cent by 2030 and 60 per cent by 2040.

CCS is highlighted in three places in the commission roadmap. Firstly, it is included in a list of technologies whose ‘R&D, demonstration and early deployment’ is of ‘paramount importance to ensure their cost-effective and large-scale penetration later on’. It warned against locking in carbon investments through a less ambitious pathway. Describing it as ‘indispensible’, the commission renewed calls for the full implementation of the Strategic Energy Technology plan (SET) which includes the European CO₂ capture, transport and storage initiative, covering 12 industrial scale CCS projects operational by 2015.

Secondly, CCS is highlighted for capturing industrial process emissions (e.g. cement and steel), notably to be ‘deployed on a broad scale after 2035’ and would entail an annual investment of more than €10 billion. The commission recognised that this may result in carbon leakage and it will need to monitor the impact of cutting emissions from heavy industry on competitiveness.  Thirdly, CCS is included as a key component of a low carbon future requiring ‘major and sustained investment’ over the next 40 years.

Overall, public and private investment to achieve a low carbon Europe is calculated at €270 billion annually up to 2050. This represents an additional 1.5 per cent of EU GDP per annum to be invested on top of current investment rates, a major increase in capital investments. This would return European investments to pre-economic crisis levels.

In addition, the Commission is pushing for additional efficiency measures, namely demand-side management, to achieve the full 20 per cent efficiency savings agreed in the 2020 targets. In the new ‘Energy Efficiency Plan’, published alongside the roadmap, it is estimated that if efficiency policies are strengthened, this will lead to an overall 25 per cent cut of emissions from Europe by 2020. This exceeds its previous target of 20 per cent and places a 25 per cent cut formally on the table for the first time in Europe. CCS is not specified in this plan; it focuses on energy consumption, specifically in buildings, transport and industry. However, it does underlie the requirement for best available technology in power generation and the importance of the Industrial Emissions Directive.

In regards renewable energy, the roadmap does not expand a huge amount on the subject. It states that member states are on track to meet their 2020 target of increasing the share of renewables in the EU’s energy mix to 20 per cent. It emphasises the importance of the EU ETS and the deployment of smart grids as two critical factors in supporting a low carbon transition. The greater detail for decarbonisation by 2050 - energy specific scenarios and the means of achieving them - will be released later this year by the Commission in the ‘Energy 2050 Roadmap’.

All in all, a lot of work to do, answers to get and money to find by 2050