European shipowners and ports are pressing Brussels to clarify rules for cross-border CO2 transport, warning that regulatory delays could slow the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure.
Industry groups from across the European CCS value chain have called for urgent action ahead of the European Commission’s forthcoming market package for CO2 transportation. They claim that without clearer frameworks for moving captured carbon by sea, faster permitting, and more targeted financing, Europe’s decarbonisation plans will be harder to deliver.
The recommendations have been jointly presented by Danish Shipping alongside shipowners’ associations in Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as CCS Europe, the European Sea Ports Organisation and the European Lime Association. Together, they outline five areas where regulatory and financial reform could accelerate deployment.
EU legislation requires the bloc to reach climate neutrality by 2050, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. For maritime stakeholders, that target implies the rapid build-out of a CO2 transport and storage network, encompassing terminals, specialised vessels, and offshore storage sites.
Anna Vejlby Ib, Head of EU Representation at Danish Shipping, said the scale of the task demands progress across the chain. ‘We need to capture CO2, transport and store it. This requires maritime and port infrastructure, faster permits, and smarter funding mechanisms. And it all needs to happen at the same time. There’s plenty of work to be done. And that is why we have gathered actors from across the whole value chain to point out five areas, where we need political action.’
Mads Gade, chief executive of INEOS Energy Europe, said Project Greensand shows that offshore storage can be delivered in Europe. ‘With Project Greensand, INEOS is proving that CCS is a working climate solution. When we bring the EU’s first full‑scale offshore storage site into operation this summer, we show that it is entirely feasible to build and operate the full CCS value chain in Europe, from capture and shipping to safe offshore storage. Now the EU must act: We need support for CO2 capture to secure progress and permitting must accelerate. These recommendations lay out the barriers we must remove to make CCS deliver for Europe’s climate goals.’
The industry associations also propose a dedicated CCS-focused financing arm under the EU Innovation Fund, alongside a single EU point of contact to coordinate policy and implementation across member states. They called for an EU-level guarantee mechanism to prevent double penalties in the CCUS value chain, ensuring that captured and transported CO2 is not exposed to overlapping compliance costs.
