A practical assesment of CCUS opportunities in the Southeast European industrial sector - Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania

Carbon capture, storage, and utilization (CCUS) stands out as a promising tool to advance the achievement of industrial decarbonization objectives. Nonetheless, persistent uncertainties surrounding technical and commercial parameters have hindered its widespread adoption. This paper aims to shed light on the CCUS prospects within Southeast European countries, namely Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, and Romania. It does so by estimating costs and optimizing CCUS value chains that encompass emitters from the fertilizer, oil refining, iron and steel, and cement industries. Our analysis, coupled with consultations with industry experts, reveals that the implementation of CCUS has the potential to reduce overall industrial CO2 emissions in the region by up to 25%. In some countries, the formation of CCUS clusters emerges as a straightforward decarbonization strategy, whereas in others, the presence of widely spaced emission sources and sinks necessitates coordinated development of pipeline infrastructure and crosscountry collaboration. This potential is further bolstered by supranational programs. However, it is worth noting that the current EU Emission Trading System (ETS) scheme does not seem to sufficiently incentivize investments in carbon capture. The availability of free ETS allowances still covers a significant portion of capturable CO2 emissions, potentially discouraging individual plants from pursuing expensive carbon capture initiatives.