Carbon storage limitation
We analyse the impact of a more limited access to cross-border CO2 storage, starting from the Electrification Scenario. Belgium’s access to cross-border CO2 storage is limited to 5 million ton per year. This scenario is important, as Belgium has no natural CO2 storage locations, and must rely on CO2 storage capacity in other countries and offshore zones.
Key takeaways
- A limitation on the carbon storage potential to 5 Mton/y leads to a much slower CO2 reduction trajectory. In the period 2030-2040, there is a lower overall emission reduction. The sensitivity scenario Electrification_CCS5 reaches a 52% reduction by 2030, compared to 57% in the Central scenario and 59% in the Electrification scenario.
- In the medium-term, around 1 billion euro is saved every year by the reduced use of CCS technologies. The three most important savings are: reduced CO2 storage costs, reduced investments in CO2 capturing technologies and reduced energy losses inherent to the capturing process. Within the energy system, 1 billion euro is saved. However, the additional tax for the increased carbon emissions amounts to 1.5 billion euro every year.
- In the longer term (2050) and with only 5 million ton of CO2 storage, most of the storage is taken up by the cement sector showing that it is a priority sector for CCS.
- We observe an increased use of captured CO2 for feedstock production (2 million ton/ per year) and of electrification in the high value chemicals sector.
CO2 Emissions
- The sensitivity scenario 'Electr. Carbon storage limit' reaches a 52% reduction by 2030 (58 million tonnes of remaining emissions) and an 80% reduction by 2040 (24 million tonnes of remaining emissions).
- Capturing of CO2 remains in both cases around 8 million ton per year in 2050. In the sensitivity run, 5 million ton goes to the carbon storage and the remaining CO2 is used for generating feedstocks (not visualised in the graph).
