Response to the government’s CCUS consultation
In June 2023, the government presented the French strategy for capturing “fatal” CO2 and storing it geologically or reusing it (CCUS). The government sees this technology as necessary alongside energy efficiency, the development of hydrogen, electrification and the use of biomass if industrial decarbonisation targets are to be achieved.
The CCUS strategy is designed to build a whole logistical chain, from industrial sites capturing the CO2 emitted from their activities to sites where it can be stored underground or reused in an industrial process (e.g. e-fuel production). In November 2023, a review of the ecological transition contracts signed by the state and industry shows that, by 2030, CCUS will constitute the most important technological lever, alongside hydrogen and biomass, for reducing industrial CO2 emissions.
CCUS is one of the levers described by France’s multi-year energy plan in 2023, which sets a target of 5 to 8 Gt of CO2 captured every year from 2050.
GRTgaz is working to deploy this solution in France by building dedicated transport networks to receive and carry CO2 from the capture location to the storage or reuse location. In this way, GRTgaz is helping to facilitate the limitation of future carbon emissions from industry (Pillar B of our climate strategy) and ultimately, in the case of biogenic CO2 transport, from anaerobic digestion processes for example, contributing to the creation of carbon sinks (Pillar C).
GRTgaz is already active in the main CO2-emitting areas, with initial CO2 transport network projects under development in Dunkirk, where a call for expressions of interest was launched in February 2023 followed by a feasibility study at the end of 2023, in Nantes/Saint- Nazaire (GOCO2 project) and in Fos-sur-Mer.
Over 75% of industrial emissions of CO2 in France’s Grand Ouest region transported by 2050