COREu will demonstrate key enabling technologies in a CCS value chain and support the development of three new CCS routes in Central-East Europe (CEE), helping accelerate CCS development . COREu will (a) provide the means for development of an open-access, trans-national network (infrastructure and logistic) to connect emitters with storage sites in Europe, by identifying multimodal transport requirements, and developing emitters’ clusters to create the demand and the investment rationale, (b) increase the knowledge of the CCS value chain across Europe through interconnected initiatives, sharing of experience, knowledge and data to create a common framework that encompasses all key aspects of CCS deployment: technological know-how, business models, consensus management, monitoring, reporting and validation, policy framework, transport and storage safety. COREU will contribute to 6.8Mt/year in CO2 reduction by 2035 and 36Mt/year by 2050, develop 8 innovations for Measurement Monitoring Verification, interoperability and Value Chain Monitoring, and improve the Internal Rate of Return of CO2 infrastructure investment by 6% through de-risking core technologies.

The quantitative potential, effectiveness and impacts of negative emission technologies and practices (NETPs), particularly taking into account relevant disciplines such as sustainability, socio-political and socio-economic sciences, are not so well understood. Based on a multi-discipline approach, with world-leading experts that can show proven track records in technological, economic and socio-political disciplines, NEGEM will go beyond the perspectives of climate physics and climate economics currently providing the basis for climate scenario modelling. The novel approach of NEGEM is the focus on a real-world perspective, where the theoretical potential of NETPs will be filtered through a range of key performance indicators relevant to biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and planetary boundaries, resource economies, societal dimensions, social acceptability, technological opportunities and constraints, multi-level governance, and the sustainability transition. Through this, NEGEM will address to what extent NETPs are required to achieve climate neutrality and how their associated technical, economic and socio-political impacts potentially limit their contribution. The result is a comprehensive analysis of the realistic, sustainably deployable potential of NETPs supporting EU’s endeavours to implement the Paris Agreement within the frames of relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals. The NEGEM analysis will feed into a comprehensive framework with guidance on how to create, select, analyse and disseminate pathways with NETPs. This framework will be used to identify a set of pathways to achieve climate neutrality, which helps lay the basis for the medium-to-long term vision needed to support EU’s endeavours to implement the PA within the context of relevant SDGs. NEGEM will dedicate specific efforts to reaching out to key stakeholders, in particular to policymakers at national and EU levels, but also to key international stakeholders, including developing countries.

OBJECTIVES: Within five years and with the available monetary resources: A) To demonstrate on system-prototype level a new innovative 2nd generation CCS technology, verified by testing at relevant size and in operational environment, aimed at an efficiency penalty and a capture cost that are significantly lower than alternative technologies. B) To advance the development of this technology, i.e. chemical-looping combustion with integrated CO2 capture (CLC-CCS), from TRL4 via TRL5 and 6 to TRL7 in joint collaboration with industrial end users. This involves a) realising the potentiality of the technology (present at TRL4), b) system prototype demonstration, modified from prior experience (TRL4), taken through all stages, from synthesising via systems integration to demonstration and testing in an operational environment typical of a modern petroleum refinery (TRL7), and c) integrated assessment, including a plausible model case extending the CO2 capture system to (shared) local/regional transport and storage needs. PURPOSE: To reveal emerging opportunities for the technology with the prospective avenues for its wider deployment in energy-intensive industry, initially via steam generation and auxiliary systems in petroleum refineries in Europe and China. In order to fulfil the stated objectives and the related scientific and technological goals, technological frontiers will be pushed through three stages of development with specific milestones (TRL5,6,7) . Pursuant to budgetary constraints and the prerequisites compatible with TRL7, the demonstration of the CLC-CCS system will be carried out in China. The CONSORTIUM forms a strong alliance of high-ranking industries, with the involvement of two major oil companies and a world-class boiler company specialised in fluidised bed technology, matching with the most reputable universities in China, and European research institutions exhibiting extensive track records pertaining to CCS.