Carbon removal – Imperative in combating climate change

The publication presents Fortum's proposals for integrating carbon removal into EU legislation.

Power plant and CCS facility in Oslo

To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, the world needs to reach net-negative emissions, the point at which we are actually removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than we are releasing. This will involve deploying methods – both natural and technological – that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it for long periods. Carbon removal is an essential part of the lowest-cost path towards meeting the Paris Agreement goals.

Carbon removal should be complementary to emissions reductions. Rapid emissions reductions are needed, regardless of the level of carbon dioxide removals. In Fortum’s opinion, carbon removal accompanied with additional emissions reduction policies should be seen as one tool in a bigger tool box to combat climate change. However, to make carbon removal and negative emissions technologies commercially viable and to upscale them, they should be better recognised in legislation and incentivised. In Fortum’s view, carbon pricing would be the most appropriate tool to promote carbon removals.

The attached leaflet deals with technological solutions for carbon removal, especially carbon capture and storage (CCS), in which Fortum has ongoing business development. In the leaflet, we present our proposals for integrating carbon removal into EU legislation.

Download the leaflet

Tatu Hocksell

Public Affairs Specialist
Tel: +358 44 062 0940
tatu [dot] hocksell [at] fortum [dot] com

Kari Kankaanpää

Head of Public Affairs Finland
Tel: +358 50 453 2330
kari [dot] t [dot] kankaanpaa [at] fortum [dot] com