On 8-9 December, the European Commission and its oil company co-host HEREMA will hold the fifth Industrial Carbon Management (ICM) Forum in Athens. As the EU gears up for its annual meeting on carbon capture, new research by Oil Change International and Corporate Europe Observatory1 shows that carbon capture and storage (CCS) has received €17.3 billion in public subsidies from the EU, its member states, and Norway.2
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The ICM Forum has been dominated and steered by the fossil fuel industry, and has shaped EU policy and directed public money towards CCS as a way to lock-in fossil fuels.4 This year’s co-host HEREMA aims to expand oil and gas production, and is facing local resistance over its controversial Prinos CCS site.
Mapping the money behind carbon capture — Public subsidies and industry ties
The fossil fuel industry is behind the push for CCS
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has exposed how the European Commission’s ICM Forum (formerly the ‘CCUS Forum’) is dominated and steered by fossil fuel industry lobbyists. Its working groups produce recommendations for the Commission, effectively inviting the fossil fuel industry to shape EU policy. The Commission’s subsequent strategy (the ICMS) closely mirrors these recommendations.
The 5th forum in Athens is co-hosted by HEREMA, a Greek state-owned oil company with an explicit goal of increasing oil and gas production.b HEREMA’s CO2 storage project in Prinos, Thassos, is facing strong local resistance due to risks of CO2 leakage, groundwater pollution, and earthquakes.
Since last year’s ICM Forum in Pau, France, all four working groups mandated to help implement the ICMS have published recommendations. Each group had fossil fuel industry co-chairs and/or report editors, including Equinor, the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP), and six others (see Figure 2).c These eight fossil fuel groups alone spend nearly €20 million a year lobbying Brusselsd – and the Commission is listening to them.