EU-wide Advantages and Opportunities for HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D3-24 – New CO₂ Capture Technologies

1. Single Market Access

• Unhindered commercialisation across 27 Member States (450 + million consumers) accelerates uptake of low-cost capture skids, solvents, membranes and DAC units.

• Freedom of movement for goods & services under Article 26 TFEU allows project partners to build centralised manufacturing hubs and distribute modules EU-wide without customs frictions or divergent product rules.

• Integration with the EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) provides a pan-European carbon price signal (>€60 / tCO₂) that will immediately reward capture solutions and create a bankable revenue stream.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Horizon Europe consortia must include at least three entities from three different eligible countries, unlocking best-in-class expertise (e.g. Nordic sorbent developers + German process modellers + Spanish engineering, procurement & construction firms).

• Access to distributed research infrastructure ECCSEL ERIC (nodes in NO, NL, IT, FR, UK) enables piloting under multiple climatic and flue-gas conditions with a single access agreement.

• Creates a de-risked pathway to connect capture pilots to transnational CO₂ transport & storage projects such as Northern Lights (NO), Porthos (NL) and Greensand (DK).

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• European Green Deal & Fit-for-55: CO₂ capture is a recognised ‘net-zero enabling’ technology in the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and the EU’s CCUS strategy draft (2024). Successful projects will position the EU to meet the mandatory 50 Mt CO₂/y storage target by 2030.

• Mission Innovation CDR & EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF): DAC proposals can pre-align MRV protocols with forthcoming EU certification standards, fast-tracking market entry.

• Water-Smart Strategy & Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability: Explicit focus on low water use and low-toxicity materials future-proofs solutions against tightening REACH/CLP rules.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• Single set of safety and pressure-equipment standards (PED, ATEX, Seveso) reduces multi-country compliance costs by up to 30 % compared to independent national certification.

• Centrally developed CEN/ISO standards for CO₂ purity (> 95 % vol, < 50 ppm O₂, H₂O) create one validation procedure for transport & storage, simplifying scale-up.

• EU state-aid frameworks (Climate, Environmental & Energy Guidelines) allow combined public support (Horizon + Innovation Fund) without breaching competition law.

5. Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Access to 3 000 + universities, 9 000 + research institutes and over 500 technology parks within the European Research Area (ERA).

• Synergies with EU KICs (EIT InnoEnergy, EIT RawMaterials, EIT Climate-KIC) provide acceleration, venture building and investor matchmaking services post-project.

• Participation in standardisation committees (CEN TC 346, ISO TC 265) positions consortia to shape future norms and secure first-mover advantage.

6. Funding & Financing Synergies

• Horizon Lump-Sum model simplifies admin and unlocks combination with:

– Innovation Fund large-scale (CAPEX & OPEX for first-of-a-kind plants)

– LIFE Clean Energy Transition (awareness, capacity building, replication)

– Connecting Europe Facility-Energy (cross-border CO₂ pipelines and shipping terminals)

– European Investment Bank (EIB) InnovFin and InvestEU green loan guarantees

• Smart coupling with national Recovery & Resilience Plans (RRF) can multiply TRL-8/9 deployment funding, particularly in CZ, RO, EL, PT and PL where CCUS is a priority.

7. Scale & Impact Potential

• EU industrial emissions: ≈ 800 Mt CO₂/y from steel, cement, chemicals & refineries – providing a vast addressable market for point-source capture.

• More than 450 Mt CO₂ permanent storage capacity already characterised in the North Sea Basin; pipeline/shipping corridors under development allow captured CO₂ from any Member State to reach sinks.

• Uniform EU taxonomy & sustainable-finance disclosure rules classify CCUS & DAC with permanent storage as ‘environmentally sustainable’, unlocking green-bond and ESG-fund capital.

8. Strategic Value of Operating at EU Scale

1. Market pull (EU-ETS, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) and market push (NZIA storage target) create predictable demand unmatched by any single Member State.

2. Geographic diversity enables technology stress-testing in Mediterranean, Continental and Nordic climates, boosting bankability and global export potential.

3. EU-level branding accelerates standard adoption in third-country markets participating in Mission Innovation and facilitates WTO-compliant dissemination.

Bottom Line: Engaging in this Horizon-RIA allows consortia to leverage the EU’s integrated market, policy coherence, and unique innovation infrastructure to de-risk and fast-track breakthrough CO₂ capture technologies from laboratory to continental deployment, a scale impossible to achieve through purely national efforts.