CCS in Germany: Main Policy Outcomes and Multi-Level Explanatory Factors

My stay in Berlin will be devoted to gathering further information about German CCS policy related to an on-going comparative study of German and British CCS policy. These countries are certainly among the key actors in the development of EU climate polic y and there is hence interesting and important to better understand the policy dynamics in these two countries. They have both expressed interest in developing the technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as one way of reducing CO2-emissions.The ene rgy systems in both countries share some important characteristics, such as a significant share of coal in the energy mix. In particular for Germany this is so, and with the forecasted transformation of the energy system, referred to as Die Energiewende a nd directed at phasing out nuclear power reducing CO2-emissions, one could expect Germany to be particularly interested in developing the CCS-portfolio further. To be able to determine, compare and analyse CCS policy in Germany and the UK the project add resses four main domestic policy dimensions: The political rhetorical level; the public financing made available by the national governments; the status of concrete CCS projects; and the national investments made abroad in large CCS development projects. The study will be based on empirical data gathered by analysing formal documents such as official budgets, national white and green papers, official reports, and press releases, as well as secondary sources like research articles and books, interest orga nization and research reports. The stay in Berlin will be a great help in this regard. I will benefit greatly from discussions with staff at the Environmental Policy Research Center (FFU) and they will help me in finding the right interviewees. A string o f interviews will be conducted with official governmental representatives, interest organizations, industry partners and otherwise involved individuals.