Industry backs planned CO2 storage in Lower Austria

Austria’s government wants to allow carbon capture and storage, a technology that pumps CO2 underground, and parts of Lower Austria could be suitable, ORF reports. Industry supports the proposal, while environmental groups oppose it.

Under the technology, known as Carbon Capture and Storage, CO2 would be stored one to three kilometres underground. Existing oil and gas reservoirs could be used, including several in Lower Austria.

“The Marchfeld is considered a suitable area,” said Christian Schützenhofer of the Austrian Institute of Technology. The region has such reservoirs, and its geological conditions are well understood, he said.

CCS is currently banned in Austria. The government wants to change that partly to help meet the country’s climate targets. Schützenhofer said research broadly agrees that some sectors, including cement production and waste incineration, have no other solution for unavoidable emissions.

Environmental organisation Greenpeace criticised the technology. “CCS is not a climate protection solution, but an extremely expensive pseudo-solution with an expiry date,” said Jasmin Duregger of Greenpeace. Instead of investing in CCS, emissions should be reduced and renewable energy expanded, she said.

Schützenhofer rejected that criticism. Expanding renewable energy should be the first instrument, he said, but CCS would probably be unavoidable for economic reasons. The CO2 would remain underground in liquid form rather than being broken down. He said the technology was safe, that a leak was unlikely and that even in the event of a leak, the CO2 would simply return to the air.

The Austrian cement industry welcomed the government’s proposal, said Gernot Tritthart, deputy chairman of the industry’s association and a member of the management board of cement company Holcim, which has a location in Mannersdorf in the Bruck an der Leitha district.

The industry was trying to reduce its emissions, Tritthart said, but CO2 was released during the cement-burning process and could not be avoided.

Even if Austria lifted the ban, it would probably take another 10 years before CCS could be used, Tritthart said. A pipeline network would be needed to transport CO2 from companies to storage sites. The AIT scientist also said such a network was necessary to use CCS efficiently.

It remains unclear who would finance the network. Greenpeace said the costs would probably have to be covered with public money. Tritthart said many other industries could also reduce their CO2 emissions through CCS, but the industrial sector could not finance the network alone.

One option would be to charge users a fee, similar to a sewage system, Tritthart said. The government would still have to address the issue if it lifts the ban.