Carbon capturing plans stall amid ongoing talks after German coalition break-up

It remains unclear whether Germany’s planned reform of its carbon storage law will make it through parliament ahead of the snap election in February 2025, reported energy and climate news service Tagesspiegel Background. The government introduced a draft into parliament ahead of the coalition break-up, but lawmakers from chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens aim for additional changes.

From the start, the plans drew criticism from several lawmakers also from the coalition, and the government break-up further complicated negotiations. Now, members of the conservative opposition CDU/CSU alliance and the former coalition partners Free Democrats (FDP) said they could agree to the draft as it was initially tabled, wrote Tagesspiegel.

Criticism by some lawmakers is particularly focussed on the fact that the scope of the law was extended compared to earlier plans. The previous government of the CDU and SPD wanted to lift the carbon storage ban only for unavoidable residual emissions from the basic materials industry such as lime and cement, wrote Tagesspiegel. The current draft would allow even emissions from gas-fired power plants to be captured and stored.

In a bid to help Germany reach greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045, the government presented a draft law reform that would allow the storage of CO2 under the seabed, as well as onshore – but only if the federal states choose to do so. The reform would end the country's current ban on carbon storage.

Germany has seen years of protests against carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, as environmentalists saw the risk that coal plant operators would use them as a lifeline to extend the fossil fuel's use. Several environmental NGOs criticised parts of the plans, such as offshore storage which could endanger marine life.