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German cabinet approves bill for carbon storage infrastructure

The German cabinet approved Wednesday reforms that will accelerate the development and deployment of infrastructure to capture carbon dioxide. Berlin is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045, while maintaining its difficult-to-decarbonise sectors.

Carbon capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of removing carbon dioxide from the air that has been produced by industrial processes. It can also capture it at the source and store it underground.

If individual federal states permit it, industries that are difficult to decarbonise like cement and lime production or gas power plants can store CO2 in the oceans, beneath the seabed, or on land.

The bill will simplify the planning and approval process by classifying the construction and operation CO2 storage and pipelines in "overriding public interests" and simplifying the classification of the projects.

The previous German government tried to promote CCS but was unable to pass any legislation before its collapse in November. The draft that was approved by the German government on Wednesday is much more ambitious.

The bill allows existing natural gas pipelines to be converted or adapted to carry carbon dioxide in place of natural gas, reducing the need for new pipelines.

The government could take private land and compensate the owner for the construction of CO2 pipelines.

Germany's part of the North Sea has a CO2 storage capability of between 1.5 billion and 8.3 billion tonnes. This could be deposited up to 20 millions tons per year. (Reporting and editing by Madeline Chambers, Holger Hansen and Riham Alkousaa)

(source: Reuters)