German upper house approves underground CO2 storage

Germany's upper house on Friday paved the way for underground storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) on an industrial scale, signing off on a bill passed in the lower house that will now take effect.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) allows climate-damaging CO2 to be stored underground in order to prevent further global warming through emissions.

The move is intended to help industries such as cement, lime and aluminium, where CO2 emissions are currently considered unavoidable.

The law provides for storage primarily under the seabed, although a clause allows German states to provide storage on land.

In addition, the bill enables the construction of a pipeline network to transport the greenhouse gas.

Stefan Rouenhoff, state secretary in the Economy Ministry, described the law as an important building block for decarbonization.

According to the Federation of German Industries, CO2 storage is crucial for the competitive transformation of industry on the path to climate neutrality.

Environmental organizations, on the other hand, have warned that the Carbon Dioxide Storage Act threatens the climate, the economy and drinking water security.

They argue that instead of avoiding CO2 from the outset, the greenhouse gas would have to be captured at great expense and compressed using enormous amounts of energy.

They warn that the proposed regulations will slow down the transition to cleaner energy and even open up new business models for fossil fuel industries.