Joint statement on CO₂ Transport infrastructure: Enabling a Pragmatic Framework for early Market Development
Read the full joint statement here.
Industry welcomes the European Commission’s work on the development of a regulatory framework for CO₂ transport infrastructure, which will be critical to achieving the EU’s climate objectives and enabling the scale-up of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) as part of an integrated value chain, including emitters, transport, storage operators, and CO2 offtakes for use in products.
However, the European CO₂ transportation market remains at an early stage of development, with limited infrastructure in operation and many projects still facing significant regulatory, financial, and coordination challenges. At this stage, the priority
should be to enable deployment and support the de-risking of investments for current and future projects, rather than focus only on regulatory frameworks. A strong Industrial Carbon Management framework should also ensure that adequate incentives are in place across the value chain, recognising the high costs of CCUS projects and the need for effective de-risking and support mechanisms to enable large-scale deployment.
While regulatory clarity is important, there is a need to ensure that policy design remains proportionate and aligned with the current maturity of the market, avoiding the introduction of strict regulatory approaches in a nascent market, and ensuring that any future regulation intervention is justified by clear market needs. The framework should also preserve investor confidence by safeguarding first-mover projects and avoiding retroactive changes that could undermine bankability.
In this context, industry would like to recommend the following key principles to the current work carried out by DG ENER (please download the statement to read recommendations in detail):
- Adopt a phased approach to regulatory development.
- Prioritise key enabling measures to support early deployment.
- Support a coordinated development of the CO₂ value chain.
- Ensure proportionate and flexible regulation in early phases.
Delivering Europe's CCUS ambitions requires the rapid deployment of CO₂ transport infrastructure across multiple Member States and industrial spaces.
At this stage, the regulatory framework should focus on enabling investment, reducing risk, and support early projects, while preserving the flexibility needed for the market to evolve.
A phased, pragmatic, and proportionate approach to regulation, combined with targeted key enabling measures and strong coordination across the value chain, will be essential to ensure the timely and cost-effective development of a European CO₂ transport infrastructure.
Download the full statement below.
