German environment agency warns against overreliance on CO₂ storage

Germany must not rely too heavily on carbon capture and storage (CCS) to meet its climate goals, warned the head of the country’s environment agency UBA following the government’s recent push to expand the technology. While CCS has a role to play, it cannot substitute deep cuts in emissions across buildings, transport and industry, UBA president Dirk Messner told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

Carbon capture technologies “are not suitable tools for dispensing with massive reductions in emissions in the building sector, transport and industry,” Messner said. He added that storage capacity is limited and that large-scale deployment will require extensive infrastructure and research.

The government cabinet agreed earlier this month to allow and promote the large-scale deployment of CCS, including in the steel sector and gas-fired power plants, a measure chancellor Friedrich Merz described as a key German contribution to combating global warming.

CCS involves capturing carbon dioxide from industrial sources, usually using chemical solvents, then transporting and securely storing it underground. Proponents view it as a means to cut emissions in sectors where other options remain limited. Yet critics caution that CCS risks delaying the shift to renewables and necessary emission-cutting measures.

Europe is also increasingly recognising CCS within its climate strategies. The European Commission’s Industrial Carbon Management Strategy launched in early 2024 supports the development of CCS and CCU (carbon capture and utilisation) to reach climate neutrality by 2050. But there is broad agreement among researchers that CCS will remain costly, and cannot replace emission reductions in sectors where more viable zero-carbon technologies exist.

Messner admonished those who see CCS as a justification for continued fossil fuel use. “Anyone who thinks we can simply continue to drive combustion‑engine cars, heat with gas and oil, and use fossil fuels for industrial production is misjudging the situation,” he said.

According to UBA, Germany could achieve climate neutrality by 2045 with only minimal reliance on carbon capture and storage technologies if it fully utilises all current potentials: restructuring industry, transitioning heating and mobility to renewables, and reinforcing natural carbon sinks.