Søknad til Bellonas arbeid i den europeiske nullutslippsplattformen ZEP

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) plays a very important role in EU energy, industrial and climate policy. The IPCC's climate reports explicitly state that the Paris Agreement's goals cannot be achieved without CCS on a very large scale. Recommendations on incentives and policies for the rollout of CCS are Bellona's main priority in working towards the EU institutions. Research is still needed to drive down costs through innovation, but the large-scale rollout of already developed and proven technology is the main practical driver of innovation. Bellona's motivation in the European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP) 'Zero Emissions Platform' (ZEP) is to promote knowledge exchange on CCS as a necessary climate technology, among Norwegian and European actors (especially in the European Parliament and commission). One of the project's main objectives is to provide professional input to the European Commission's assessments and preparation of calls for proposals under the EU Framework Programmes for Research, as well as influence research recommendations and ensure a solid scientific foundation for EU energy and climate policy. ZEP has provided valuable input into the design of the EU's first call for proposals in 2020 for its Innovation Fund (EU IF). The target group for IF is new, full-scale projects within CCS and CCU, emission-free hydrogen, renewable energy and energy storage. Financing of EU IF comes from the sale of emission quotas in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). The EU IF will give about one billion Euro a year in total to new projects that compete on several criteria, including emissions reductions, cost efficiency, maturity and degree of innovation. The EU will publish in the Q4 of 2021 the list of winning applications. Statistics on the first call show that a total of 311 applications were submitted, covering all four project types. Estimates show the total potential for emission reductions of about 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 over a period of about 10 years. One of the many positive signs of accelerated rollout of CCS due to EU IF is now confirmed by the Northern Lights project. Letters of intent have been signed for transporting and storing CO2 from European projects submitted to EU IF to Northern Lights. The sum of CO2 from these agreements is greater than the capacity of phase 2 in Northern Lights, which is now planned to be 5 million tonnes of CO2 stored yearly. ZEP has given specific input to the EU in early 2021 on how the next announcement can be improved. The EU's long-term climate plan from 2018 emphasizes in clear terms the importance of CCS for heavy industry and for achieving negative emissions in general. This is a very clear result of ZEP's long-standing work with the European Commission. A particularly important addition to ZEP in 2020 is the EU's process of regulating investments to achieve the EU's long-term climate goals. A new classification system for investments, the so-called Taxonomy/Sustainable Finance, will set the framework for what can be considered sustainable investments in the EU. This could have real impact on the management of capital. ZEP has participated actively in consultations to ensure that CCS is included in the definition of such investments, while ensuring that a specific CCU technology is only included if it satisfies minimum thresholds of emissions reductions. The technical expert group for sustainable finance has largely followed ZEP's recommendations. Bellona has contributed content through his participation in the Technical Working Group in ZEP. Furthermore, work on the EU's Green Deal will dominate the agenda ? EU Commissioner Timmermans has already confirmed that CCS will play a role. In 2020, Bellona and ZEP have been targeting specific European plans for CO2 infrastructure. The EU Innovation Fund (IF) and Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance are both designed to promote real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions without increasing other environmental impacts and damage. Unfortunately, the EU's IF and Taxonomy are not aligned. Bellona has pointed out the worst pitfalls in this situation in many different EU processes, hearings, forums and bilateral meetings, including in Bellona?s work inside ZEP. Bellona has helped ZEP address new policy challenges that have come into the agenda in the EU. ZEP investigated as early as 2012 the use of bio-CCS as a technique to produce energy while removing CO2 from the atmosphere. The debate around the need to actively reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere started heating up in 2020 in the EU. In early 2021, ZEP published its position on what constitutes and characterizes projects that are effective at Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). This is the common technical term for bio-based energy and other industrial processes with CCS, direct separation of CO2 from the atmosphere, as well as improvements in forestry, agriculture and aquaculture that are implemented to enhance natural uptake of CO2.

Bellonas arbeid innen ZEP har gitt flere virkninger og effekter: 1. Bidratt til at EUs Innovasjonsfond har blitt realisert med første utlysning for fullskala prosjekter holdt i 2020, og at reglene for at søknader for støtte vurderes på en systematisk måte basert på faktisk klimagevinst 2. Bidratt med definisjoner av Carbon Dioxide Removal som gjør at EU støtter egnede prosjekter og unngår prosjekter med liten eller ingen klimagevinst 3. Bidratt til at EU inkluderer CCS innen Taxonomy for Sustainable finance 4. Bidratt til at EUs Projects of Common Interest program inkluderer CO2 transport og lagringsprosjekter

Bellonas deltagelse i EUs teknologi og innovasjonsplattform for CO2-håndtering, ETIP ZEP skal: -Ta et strategisk lederskap i ETIP ZEP og koordinere og fremme Norges og Bellonas interesser og prioriteringer -Fremme teknologiutvikling og rammeverk for utrulling av kostnadseffektiv CO2-håndtering i stor skala -Fremme norske aktørers påvirkningsevne i ETIP ZEP, herunder også spesielt fremming av de norske CCS-prosjektene og norsk lagringskapasitet -Fremme norske forskningsprioriteringer, jf. SET-planen -Fremme kunnskapsutveksling om CCS som nødvendig klimateknologi blant norske og europeiske aktører, særlig aktører i Europaparlamentet og kommisjonen -Fremme forpliktende uttalelser og tiltak fra EUs beslutningstakere pro CCS gjennom planer for klima, energi, industri, generell kommunikasjon og utlysning av forskningsmidler -Sørge for fortsatt involvering av norske aktører i nasjonal dialog som kan bidra til det arbeidet som foregår i ETIP ZEP -Sikre en god og konkret oppfølging av SET-Planens Task 9 CCUS, med spesiell fokus på å sikre fortsatt støtte fra sentrale medlemsland