CO₂ transport and storage are critical to scaling up CCS

Access to CO₂ transport and permanent storage is essential for scaling up carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Europe. The Knowledge Sharing 2026 report highlights shared infrastructure, flexible shipping solutions and CCS hubs as key enablers for developing new capture projects, and integrated CCS value chains.

As more CO₂ capture projects are developed across Europe, demand is growing for transport and storage solutions capable of serving multiple emitters.

The Knowledge Sharing 2026 report identifies access to transport and storage as a critical factor for progress across the European project pipeline. Ability to connect to shared infrastructure can make it easier for new projects to establish complete CCS value chains.

In the report: The main message is summarised in key takeaway 3 of the Executive summary on page 5. The topic is explored particularly in CO₂ transport technologies, contractual frameworks, and systems, pages 23–25. Storage capacity and further scale-up are covered in Scaling up storage: Insights on developing operational storage capacity in Europe, pages 40–42.

CO₂ transport requires an integrated CCS value chain

CO₂ transport cannot be planned in isolation from the rest of the value chain. Choices related to pipelines, pressure and temperature regimes, reservoir behaviour, wells, liquefaction, shipping and terminals are closely interdependent.

Optimising one part of the value chain does not necessarily provide the best result for the system as a whole. The report describes CO₂ transport as a system-integration challenge, in which the different components must be considered together.

First-of-a-kind projects may also require substantial de-risking and technical validation. The report highlights the importance of early collaboration across the value chain, because designs and assumptions continue to evolve during development.

Shared CO₂ infrastructure and CCS hubs can enable scale-up

Hub solutions can make it possible to aggregate CO₂ from several emission sources, and connect them to shared transport and storage infrastructure. Flexible concepts, including shipping-based solutions, can provide more options for connecting emitters and storage sites. The Executive Summary identifies such solutions as practical enablers for scale and resilience.

At the same time, open-access hubs create more interfaces and increase the need for alignment. Multiple partners, technical standards and investment timelines need to be coordinated. Experience from Knowledge Sharing 2026 shows that scaling CCS is not only about building more transport and storage capacity. It is also about developing integrated systems that new projects can actually connect to.