Air pollution impacts from carbon capture and storage (CCS)

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) consists of the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plants and/or CO2-intensive industries such as refineries, cement, iron and steel, its subsequent transport to a storage site, and finally its injection into a suitable underground geological formation for the purposes of permanent storage. It is considered to be one of the medium term 'bridging technologies' in the portfolio of available mitigation actions for stabilising concentrations of atmospheric CO2, the main greenhouse gas (GHG). Within the European Union (EU), the European Commission's 2011 communication 'A Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050' lays out a plan for the EU to meet a long‑term target of reducing domestic GHG emissions by 80-95 % by 2050. As well as a high use of renewable energy, the implementation of CCS technologies in both the power and industry sectors is foreseen. The deployment of CCS technologies thus is assumed to play a central role in the future decarbonisation of the European power sector and within industry, and constitutes a key technology to achieve the required GHG reductions by 2050 in a cost-effective way.