Nine Countries Join CCSA-Led Forum To Coordinate CCUS Policies Across Europe

The Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) launched the European CCUS National Associations Forum on June 25, an informal platform built to align policy and regulatory frameworks for carbon capture, utilization, and storage across the continent. The forum brings together nine national associations spanning Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the Netherlands.

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The CCSA said the forum is designed to enhance cooperation, knowledge sharing, and alignment among representatives of European and national CCUS stakeholders, as countries firm up climate ambitions and industries commit capital to decarbonization.

Who's In The Forum

The founding members include Denmark's CO2 Hub Europe, France's Club CO2, Germany's Carbon Management Allianz and Deutsche Carbon Management Initiative, Norway's CCUS Innovation, Poland's CCUS Poland Association, Romania's Carbon Hub, Spain's PTECO2, and the Netherlands' Platform Carbon Management. Together with the CCSA, these groups aim to create a space for dialogue and knowledge sharing that helps align efforts between Brussels and national capitals, contributing to more effective policy and regulatory frameworks for CCUS deployment across Europe.

Why A Pan-European Forum Now

The launch responds to a structural gap. As individual countries draft their own climate targets and companies commit capital to industrial decarbonization, national trade groups have ended up shaping policy largely on their own, without a shared channel to coordinate across borders.

The forum is meant to close that gap by giving these groups a direct line to each other and to Brussels, speeding up the exchange of deployment lessons and market design approaches already proven out in individual countries. The CCSA also plans to extend support to European countries that don't yet have a dedicated domestic CCUS association, sharing technical knowledge with newer markets.

This matters because CCUS is no longer a side conversation in Europe's climate policy. The EU's Net-Zero Industry Act has set a binding target requiring the bloc to have the capacity to inject 50 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030, rising to 450 million tonnes of CO2 storage capacity by 2050. Hitting those numbers means dozens of national projects need to move in sync, not in isolation.

A Sector Moving Past Early-Stage Struggles

The forum's launch lands as CCUS financing in Europe shows real traction. Global CCUS investment surged more than fifteenfold since 2020, crossing $5 billion in 2025, with more than 30 projects reaching final investment decisions over the past two years, led by Europe and North America.

Risk allocation across the capture, transport, and storage value chain remains a real hurdle for investors. That's part of why more than $15 billion in commercial debt has been raised over the past two years, mostly through landmark non-recourse transactions in Europe and North America. A more coordinated policy environment is exactly the kind of thing that could help narrow that financing gap.

What This Means For Project Developers

For companies building CCUS infrastructure across multiple European countries, fewer cross-border surprises would help projects like the Northern Lights CO2 transport and storage system in Norway and the Prinos CO2 Storage Project in Greece, both of which depend on predictable cross-jurisdiction rules to keep moving.

The forum has no regulatory authority of its own. It's an informal coordination body, not a binding policy mechanism. Whether it leads to faster permitting or harmonized storage rules will come down to how much real alignment the nine member associations can build with the European Commission and national governments in the months ahead.

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