Following the election victory of the CDU/CSU on 23 February 2025, the issue of carbon dioxide storage or carbon capture and storage (CCS) is likely to return to the tables of MPs quickly, as the technology is higher up on the CDU/CSU’s energy policy agenda. In its election programme, it stated that it wanted to “enable” the capture and injection of carbon dioxide in industrial processes in the future.

CCS within the framework of the Power Plant Safety Act

One building block is the Power Plant Security Act, for the implementation of which there was no majority following the break-up of the traffic light coalition. The aim of the Power Plant Security Act was to secure the energy transition with new gas-fired power plants in times when the sun and wind do not provide enough electricity. From 2025, around 12 GW of new gas-fired power plants were to be put out to tender - including 7 GW of hydrogen-capable gas-fired power plants (“H2 ready”) and 5 GW of conventional natural gas-fired power plants. However, the CDU/CSU refused to provide the support necessary for the law to be passed following the break-up of the traffic light coalition. Instead of a mandatory switch to hydrogen (H2) after eight years, the operators should be left to decide whether they want to convert to hydrogen or continue to operate the power plants with gas plus supplementary CCS technology. As part of the power plant strategy, the key points of which were presented for the first time in February 2024, the CDU/CSU was already pushing for the widespread implementation of CCS technology in gas-fired power plants.

The Carbon Dioxide Storage Act as the cornerstone for the roll-out

The Power Plant Safety Act suffered a similar fate to the amendment to the Carbon Dioxide Storage Act (KSpG), which also failed to get off the ground after a long period of preparation. However, the KSpG has become a key to achieving Germany’s climate targets.

According to the current legal situation, CO2 storage facilities in Germany may only be built for test purposes under the KSpG. There are also still many legal obstacles to exporting CO2 abroad, particularly with regard to offshore storage off Norway, which is favoured by the EU. The amendment already planned was intended to support industries that are unable to or have difficulty converting their production processes to climate-friendly hydrogen, such as the cement and lime industries. As described above, there was ongoing disagreement on the question of whether gas-fired power plants should also be allowed to make use of CCS technology or whether the pressure on operators of gas-fired power plants to switch to hydrogen would be mitigated too much by promoting CCS.

As part of the amendment, the basis for the creation of a transport infrastructure - i.e. a CO2 pipeline network - should also be created. The transport infrastructure is fundamental to a successful roll-out of CCS.

Significance for the industry

In 2023, German industry produced around 144 million tonnes of CO₂, making it the country’s second-largest emitter. CCS is essential for long-term competitiveness in the steel, chemical, cement, lime, glass and ceramics industries in order to reduce emissions from production processes (known as process emissions). CCS technology is intended to address emissions that are currently difficult or otherwise technically unavoidable. CCS also offers a temporary solution for industries where emission reduction technologies are not yet available or where the switch to green hydrogen and the electrification of production processes is currently not economically viable.

The failure of the Power Plant Safety Act and the amendment to the Carbon Dioxide Storage Act was a bitter setback for the industry. Both laws could have provided the planning security that companies urgently need for investment decisions on CCS projects.

As the previous legislative procedures cannot simply be continued after the early parliamentary elections due to the principle of discontinuity, it is expected that the CDU/CSU, presumably with the SPD as new coalition partner, will submit a new and more far-reaching legislative proposal.

European pioneers

One successful example of the implementation of CCS projects is Norway, where more than 19 million tonnes of CO₂ have been stored under the North Sea since 1996. Denmark has also issued six licences for the exploration of CO₂ storage facilities. As part of the Greensand project, 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ per year are to be stored in the seabed from 2025/2026 and eight million tonnes from 2030. The project is part of an emerging European CCS infrastructure. In addition, Denmark has reached agreements with several countries on the cross-border transport of CO₂ for storage in the seabed. The Greenstore project was also the first licence granted for underground CO₂ storage on land. The Netherlands is also considered a pioneer when it comes to CCS. According to the government, the Netherlands has the potential to store up to 3,200 megatonnes of CO2 by 2050. Work is currently underway in the port of Rotterdam to construct pipelines and compression stations to store CO2 off the coast in the former P18 gas field. The project could go into operation in 2026 and become a model for other European countries.