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Commercial bottlenecks leave many carbon capture projects unbuilt

The European Commission aims for at least 50 million tonnes of annual CO2 storage capacity by 2030, but the scale of transport, storage and contracting needs goes beyond pilot capture units.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Energy Transition

Carbon capture projects are often evaluated as if the key hurdle is technical, but OilPrice argues the bigger reason many plans never progress to construction is commercial feasibility along the full chain from capture to storage and contracting.

The outlet notes that a plant can capture CO2 and still lose money per tonne, while storage sites can be technically ready yet sit empty if volumes are not contracted.

It adds that pipeline and infrastructure fixes can lower costs for industrial clusters, but financing can stall when emitters wait for others to build first.

OilPrice points to the European Commission’s Industrial Carbon Management Strategy, which targets at least 50 million tonnes of annual CO2 storage capacity by 2030, and modeling that reaches about 280 million tonnes captured per year by 2040 and around 450 million tonnes by 2050, requiring common specifications, transport networks, measurement rules, liability frameworks, and long term customer contracts.

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