A new carbon capture and storage project launched with great fanfare in the Netherlands this week. But it can’t hide the challenge of decarbonising Europe’s heavy industry, writes Ian Johnston. The EU is aiming to use carbon capture and storage as a way to help decarbonise heavy industries that struggle to electrify, with an aim to have 50mn tonnes of carbon dioxide injection capacity in the EU by 2030.

Fertiliser company Yara launched Europe’s first cross-border carbon capture and storage project in the Netherlands at its Sluiskil site in Zeeland: 800,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide created in the production of ammonia will be captured on site and transported to Norway for injection under the seabed. Yara says the storage project corresponds to 0.5 per cent of the Netherlands’ emissions. Prime Minister Rob Jetten said the country had “potential with its empty gasfields in the North Sea” to store much more carbon, indicating considerable appetite for the technology.

But the 800,000 tonnes make a small dent in Yara’s 15.3mn tonnes of carbon emissions equivalent in 2025. Carbon capture also requires billions in subsidies to launch. “This Northern Lights project could not have happened without massive government support in the first place,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. As the carbon is stored outside of the EU, the project will not contribute to the bloc’s carbon capture target. Climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said “clearly that [target] is a stretch but at the same time it does start with these types of landmark projects”.Climate activists have criticised the technology as a distraction from other solutions such as electrification through hydrogen generated by renewable energy. But hydrogen enthusiasm has waned due to high costs. “Green hydrogen requires a massive amount of renewable energy and that’s simply not available at an attractive price,” said Svein Tore Holsether, Yara’s chief executive.

Around half of European citizens believe that the continent’s future is in danger, according to research released today by the European Council on Foreign Relations that paints a bleak picture of public confidence. A group of app developers are accusing the European Commission of lacking transparency over how it handled Apple’s new rules for app developers, writes Barbara Moens. Context: Brussels fined Apple €500mn last year and ordered it to review its App Store rules following an investigation into whether the US tech giant prevented app developers from sending consumers to offers outside its platform.