Article 18, Net Zero Industry Act

Proposal by European Commission, March 2023. Click here to read the proposal.

The European Commission proposed the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) on 16 March 2023. NZIA is aimed to strengthen the European manufacturing capacity of net-zero technologies, ensure deployment and overcome barriers to scaling up the manufacturing capacity in Europe.

Carbon Balance focused their policy paper on Article 16-18, which focuses on building the EU’s CO2 storage injection capacity. We summarised that the key measures focused on:

• A Union-wide target to achieve “an annual injection capacity of at least 50 million tonnes of CO2” by 2030 (Article 16);

• Member state obligations to uphold transparency of Co2 storage capacity data (Article 17);

• A mandatory pro-rata contribution to the Union-wide storage target for oil and gas producers, based on their production levels during 2020-2023 (Article 18).

Together, these articles send a clear signal that CO2 storage is key to achieving Europe’s climate neutrality goal. It constitutes a first-of-its-kind responsibility directly obligating EU-based oil and gas producers to contribute to storage capacity. Its enforcement could kickstart a market for CO2 storage and ensure that fossil fuel producers, who are current and historic contributors to climate change, are now on the hook for the climate impacts caused by their products.

Check out what our NGO partners say:

Check out Carbon Gap’s comments on NZIA and carbon removals.

Check out Clean Air Task Force’s analysis on the implications of the NZIA.

Check out Bellona’s consultation response on the NZIA.

Check out the open letter we signed with 14 other NGOs.