Press release

Press release: Environmental Alliance warns against CCS

An AI-generated image of a gas plant.

CCS: Broad environmental alliance warns of dangerous mistake

Berlin/Hamburg, 30.01.2024: On the occasion of the forthcoming publication of the Federal Government's Carbon Management Strategy, a broad alliance of environmental associations and citizens' initiatives is urgently warning of the dangers of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The civil society alliance fears far-reaching climate and environmental damage.

The main points of criticism are: CCS is a sham solution, prevents the phasing out of fossil fuels, blocks the energy transition and jeopardizes the transformation of industry towards a resource-saving circular economy. "CCS has a decades-long history of inflated expectations and unfulfilled promises and would be a dangerous mistake in the fight against the climate crisis," the alliance said.

Behind the criticism are the following associations, organisations and citizens' initiatives: Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), Greenpeace, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umweltschutz (BBU), Bundesverband für Umweltberatung e.V., PowerShift e.V., urgewald e.V., GasWende, Naturschutzverein Südtondern, Bürgerinitiative "Kein CO2 Endlager Altmark" and the Bürgerinitiative gegen CO2-Endlager.

The Alliance agrees: “A state-directed decision for CCS would be a life-prolonging measure for climate-damaging production. Power plants and entire industries would continue to tie themselves to the use of oil and gas with CCS for decades. CCS is the opposite of climate protection. It prevents the phasing out of fossil fuels, gives the oil and gas industry even more power and burdens future generations with the eternal burden of CO2 landfills. Together in the Alliance, we call for a social debate on the CCS plans of the Federal Government before such far-reaching decisions are made.”

The signatory associations oppose the Federal Government's plan to set up a several thousand kilometre long CO2 disposal network across Germany, large underground CO2 disposal facilities and cross-border trade in the transport and landfilling of carbon dioxide. Billions of taxpayers' money would subsidise a pan-European business model for the gas industry, which would be all the more profitable the more CO2 is produced.

With regard to the unforeseeable dangers to the environment, the Alliance highlights: “CCS endangers our drinking water, consumes huge amounts of land, destroys natural landscapes and requires an enormous amount of energy and material. Any CO2 compression on land or under the seabed can trigger earthquakes and cause toxic deposits in the soils. CO2 repositories in the North Sea endanger the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site. The Federal Government has so far kept the public in the dark about the costs associated with CCS and the serious risks to the environment, health and the climate.”

Until now, it has not been proven how a permanent, safe storage of large quantities of compressed carbon dioxide in the underground can succeed. Leaks of CO2 threaten to acidify the water on the seabed, which can kill mussels and corals, among other things, and create veritable death zones under water. It is also unacceptable that the gas companies are released from liability after a period of several decades and that the high climate and environmental risks of the CO2 landfills are shifted to the general public, the organizations criticize.

"Instead of relying on the bogus CCS solution, biological climate protection and emission avoidance are now needed. Both can be implemented immediately. These are durable, sustainable solutions and we know they work", concludes the Alliance.

Background:

The Federal Government's Carbon Management Strategy is expected to be published soon. In the federal budget, a significant proportion of the support programme "Decarbonisation of industry and carbon management" for CCUS projects ("Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage) – according to press releases, this amounts to 1.36 billion euros from the total funding budget of 3.55 billion euros by 2030, i.e. almost 40 percent.

A draft of the EU Commission's Carbon Management Strategy will be published on 6.2.24. The EU Net Zero Industry Act (currently in trilogue) envisages defining CCS projects as serving the “overriding public interest”.

Contacts:

BUND: Kerstin Meyer, Economics and Finance, Mobile: 0151 10 500 781, e-mail:   kerstin.meyer@bund.net

Greenpeace e.V.: Karsten Smid, Climate & Energy Campaign, Mobile: 0171 8780821; E-mail: karsten.smid@greenpeace.org

German environmental aid: Isabel Seeger, Marine Protection Specialist, Mobile: 0170 705 7673, e-mail: seeger@duh.de

Bundesverband Bürgerinitiativen Umwelt (BBU), Oliver Kalusch, Member of the Executive Board, Tel.: 0228 21 40 32, e-mail: bbu-bonn@t-online.de

Bundesverband für Umweltberatung e.V. (Federal Association for Environmental Consultancy): Gudrun Pinn, spokesperson on climate and waste policy, tel. 0163 3571668, e-mail: pinn@umweltberatung-info.de

PowerShift e.V.: Neelke Wagner, Climate and Resource Justice, Mobile: +49(0) 1575 2466 920, e-mail: neelke.wagner@power-shift.de

urgewald e.V.: Moritz Leiner, Campaigner Energy & Finance, Mobile:  0157 32824032, e-mail: moritz.leiner@urgewald.org

Gas reversal: Tina Loeffelbein, project manager, mobile: 0151 413418 15, Email: tina.loeffelbein@gaswende.de

Citizens' Initiative "No CO2 Repository Altmark": Christfried Lenz, 039001 90754, E-mail: Lenz.Buerger-Energie-Altmark@mail.de

Citizens' Initiative against CO2 Repositories: Dr. Reinhard Knof, 0162-1389223. E-mail: reinhard_knof@hotmail.com

Nature conservation association Südtondern: Gerd Oldigs, e-mail:  info@naturschutzverein-suedtondern.de

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