India goes EU way on Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) to mitigate emissions in Hard-to-Abate sectors
India announced scheme to adopt CCUS with an outlay of US$ 2.2 Billion in Budget 2026
The EU heavily relies on CCUS to achieve 2050 net-zero goals, but success is constrained by high costs and significant technical, logistical, and safety challenges, with many projects struggling to meet performance targets.
The first operational CCUS project started with the Sleipner project in Norway in 1996, much before EU established its legal framework for CCS in 2009.
- 2009: The CCS Directive was adopted, creating a legal framework for safe CO₂ geological storage.
- 2005: The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) was established, which incentivizes carbon capture by putting a price on emissions.
- 2024: The Industrial Carbon Management Strategy was released to accelerate CCS deployment, aiming for 50 million tonnes of annual injection capacity by 2030.
However, EU is likely to fall significantly short of the 2030 target of capturing 50 million tonnes annually.
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
▶ Approximately 79-82.5% of operational CCS projects utilize this method, making it a primary and commercially driven application for carbon dioxide, allowing further oil production from ageing, mature wells. EOR injects into mature oil fields to increase extraction efficiency. This is not the technology compatible with climate goals, although it is considered “bridge” technology for decarbonisation.
▶ CCS projects operating without EOR focus on geological sequestration (deep saline aquifer, Sandstone formation, depleted oilfields), industrial emission reductions, and direct air capture.
👉 The key concern for uptake for CCS is not technology but cost, scale and efficiency loss, which remain unresolved despite three decades of execution.
Can India change the dynamics of CCS with budgetary support?
It needs to do much more in addition to funding support:
▶ Dedicated legal frameworks like The EU Directive 2009/31/EC (CCS Directive), which establishes a legal framework for the safe, permanent geological storage of 
▶ Address high failure and underperformance rate: A review of 13 global flagship CCS projects found that 10 had either failed or underperformed significantly.
▶ Manage cost overruns: Due to technical issues and delays, CCS projects often experience high costs, sometimes 4 to 6 times higher than the IEA median estimate.
▶ Compensate for increased efficiency loss due to auxiliary power use.
▶ Support for a higher carbon price for CCS under India’s Carbon Credit Trading Scheme.