In line with the BDI
Conservationists are calling for CO2 to be stored in the ground
January 10, 2024, 3:43 p.m
Storing CO2 is still expensive and controversial. Environmental groups also fear that this will delay efforts to protect the climate. Now, however, NABU and WWF, together with industry representatives, are drumming up support for storage to be approved.
A coalition of the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), the Industrial Association (BDI) and the environmental protection organizations NABU and WWF have called for the controversial CO2 storage to be approved. “It is right to now give priority to using CCS and CCU where CO2 emissions cannot be avoided based on current technical standards. At the same time, high ecological and social standards must be adhered to,” says a paper.
CCS is an English abbreviation for “Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage”. What this means is that CO2 is captured during industrial processes and brought to an underground storage facility and stored there. CCU goes a little further: the term stands for “Carbon Dioxide Utilization”. The captured carbon dioxide is further used, for example as a raw material for the chemical industry.
Technology still very expensive
However, experts consider the technologies to be very expensive, scientifically controversial and difficult to scale. And environmental associations have also warned that climate protection will progress even more slowly internationally if the technology is used. If CO2 can be captured again, then there will be less effort to avoid it, they argued.
The thesis paper now states that we still support the principle of CO2 avoidance and reduction before capture. CCS and CCU are just one of many building blocks to transform parts of Germany as a business location, achieve climate goals and secure and expand high-quality employment in the long term. Reduction must always come first, conservationists agree with industry and union representatives, said Viviane Raddatz, climate chief at WWF Germany.