Through Article 18 of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), the European Commission has proposed a mandatory, individual contribution from oil and gas producers to the Union-wide CO2 injection capacity by 2030 target set out in the Act.
The co-signatories strongly support holding oil and gas producers accountable. Article 18 is an unprecedented proposal from the Commission to place responsibility on producers to provide CO2 storage injection capacity, applying the logic of Extended Producer Responsibility to the sector most responsible for the climate emergency. This is a welcome and important precedent for future EU regulations and for international climate action.
We call upon EU member states to support Article 18, making the oil and gas sector deliver this contribution on their own accounts and introducing dissuasive penalties or fines in case of non-compliance.
Earlier this year, Carbon Gap and the Carbon Balance Initiative assessed the CO2 storage provisions of the NZIA and voiced support for increasing the accountability of oil and gas producers. Read more in our paper “Who pays for Net-Zero”.