Green Sovereignty: How Europe’s Industry can Become a Carbon Sink

The EU’s steel, cement and chemical industries are heavily dependent on fossil fuels and raw materials – and are therefore vulnerable to market fluctuations and other geopolitical risks. A new study by Agora Industry, the Wuppertal Institute and the University of Kassel now shows that a three-pillar strategy at EU level can not only drastically reduce import dependencies, cushion the impact of global price shocks and open up new markets worldwide. Increased use of sustainable biomass, combined with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), even opens up the possibility that the EU’s heavy industry could be removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits as early as the mid-2040s.

Up to 57 megatonnes of negative emissions per year feasible by 2050

As part of the study, researchers have calculated that the European steel, cement and chemical industries hold enormous potential for negative emissions: Heavy industry could remove up to 57 megatonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere in 2050 – if the EU implements more consistent transformation and resilience measures, thereby enabling the industry to make a decisive shift towards electrification, the circular economy, hydrogen and sustainable biomass. Key to success are the deployment of CO2 transport infrastructure, the development of storage sites and the establishment of value chains for sustainable biomass. With these conditions in place, industry can make a significant contribution to the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 through negative emissions. 

To exploit this potential, the EU should develop an investment framework that maximises the use of domestic resources, according to the researchers. The cornerstones of such a strategy would be a strong price signal for CO2 via the European Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS), the rapid expansion of electricity from renewable energy sources, green hydrogen and sustainable biomass, as well as strong demand-side signals encouraging the creation of green lead markets to boost sales of sustainable products and industrial goods.

The study "A strategic path for EU industry – Securing the resilience of steel, chemicals and cement with renewable domestic resources" is available to download free of charge via the link below.