Germany working on legislation to enable use of underground carbon storage technology

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Germany is working on legislation to enable the use of the much-discussed technology of underground carbon storage, a top government official said Thursday, adding that it is preferable to releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Speaking to an industry group in Norway, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is also Germany’s economy and climate minister, pointed to the prospects of a “new market” for carbon capture and storage, particularly in the lime and cement industry.

The technology has yet to be deployed at scale. Opponents maintain that it is unproven and has been less effective than alternatives such as solar and wind at decarbonizing the energy sector.

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Habeck, a member of the environmentalist Green party, said that “we are no longer in a situation (where) we can pick and choose.”

German Vice Chancellor and Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck speaks during a news conference in Oslo, Norway, on Jan. 5, 2023. Habeck is looking into the possibility of enabling the use of underground carbon storage.
(Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP)

“Putting CO2 under the ground is quite simply better than releasing it into the atmosphere,” he said. “For this reason, Germany is now working on a carbon management strategy in order to create the legislation for the use of such technologies in this year, by mid-2023.”

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Data published on Wednesday by a respected environmental think tank indicated that Germany likely missed its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions again last year, despite a big effort by the new government to expand renewable energy use.

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The government has acknowledged that achieving the next big climate milestone — a reduction of emissions by 65% in 2030 compared with 1990 levels — will be a major challenge. Germany, which is home to many energy-intensive industries, aims to cut its emissions to “net zero” by 2045.