CCS: Broad environmental alliance warns of dangerous error
Berlin/Hamburg, 30.01.2024: A broad alliance of environmental associations and citizens' initiatives is urgently warning of the dangers of carbon capture and storage (CCS) on the occasion of the upcoming publication of the Federal Government's Carbon Management Strategy. The civil society alliance fears far-reaching climate and environmental damage.
The main criticisms are: CCS is a sham solution, prevents the phase-out of fossil fuels, blocks the energy transition and jeopardises the transformation of industry towards a resource-efficient circular economy. “CCS has a decades-long history of excessive 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 citizens’ initiative against CO2 final storage.
The Alliance agrees: “A government directional decision for CCS would be a life-prolonging measure for climate-damaging production. With CCS, power plants and entire industries would continue to bind themselves to the use of oil and gas for decades. CCS is the opposite of climate protection. It prevents the phase-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 Federal Government's CCS plans before such far-reaching decisions are taken."
The undersigned associations oppose the Federal Government's plan to build a multi-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 dollars in taxpayers' money would subsidize a Europe-wide business model for the gas industry, which would be all the more profitable the more CO2 is generated.
With regard to the unforeseeable risks to the environment, the Alliance highlights: "CCS puts our drinking water at risk, consumes huge amounts of land, destroys natural landscapes and requires an enormous amount of energy and material. Any CO2 pollution on land or under the seabed can trigger earthquakes and cause toxic deposits in the soil. CO2 disposal sites 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 subsoil can succeed. At the seabed, leakage of CO2 threatens to acidify the water, which can kill shellfish and corals, among other things, and create veritable death zones underwater. It is also unacceptable that the gas companies are released from liability after a period of a few 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, there is now a need for biological climate protection and emission avoidance. Both can be implemented immediately. These are lasting, sustainable solutions and we know that they work", concludes the Alliance.
Background:
The Federal Government's Carbon Management Strategy will 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, Utilization and Storage) – according to press releases, the figure is 1.36 billion euros from the total funding budget of 3.55 billion euros by 2030, i.e. just under 40 percent.
A draft of the EU Commission's Carbon Management Strategy is due to 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, Specialist Marine Protection, Mobile: 0170 705 7673, E-mail: seeger@duh.de
Federal Association of Citizens' Initiatives for the Environment (BBU), Oliver Kalusch, Member of the Executive Board, Tel.: 0228 21 40 32, e-mail: bbu-bonn@t-online.de
Federal Association for Environmental Consulting e.V.: Gudrun Pinn, Climate and Waste Policy Spokesperson, 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, email: info@naturschutzverein-suedtondern.de
