Although the European Union has already made significant progress in advancing CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) as a key technology for combating climate change, the situation now calls for acceleration and an even spread throughout EU Member States and Associated Countries. This means supporting the 10–12 large-scale demos in Europe from all possible angles, so as to promote commercial deployment from 2020.
The CO2 Geological Storage (CGS) part of the CCS chain deserves special attention because of its site-specific and delicate nature (wide range of scientific aspects, regulations still being developed, necessity to guarantee safety and efficiency over at least 1000 years, not yet fully proven, local acceptance issues, etc.). In this context, a three-year Coordination Action, CGS Europe, was launched on 1st November 2010, financed by the EC FP7 programme.
Essentially based on networking, CGS Europe will promote cooperation both:
- Internally – between the participants with true European coverage: 24 EU Member States and 4 Associated Countries thus leading to capacity building between the 34 institutes involved all with experience and references in CO2 storage research,
- Externally – reaching out to national, European and international stakeholders and initiatives within the CCS community as well as to the general public.
This cooperation will be made easier by the fact that CGS Europe will build upon existing networks and relationships, with the well-established CO2GeoNet Association acting as a nucleus, linked to the key geoscientific institutions from the CO2NET EAST and ENeRG networks, plus a few additional institutes from EuroGeoSurveys to increase coverage.