Carbon management: Industry and Policymakers Call for Rapid Build up of CO2 Infrastructure in the Ruhr Region
The German Carbon Management Initiative (DCMI) and Everllence SE underlined at an event in Oberhausen today that a climate‑neutral yet competitive industrial base in Germany requires the rapid development of carbon management and CO<sub>2</sub> infrastructure. The event, which brought together representatives from industry and politics, focused on the role of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCU/S) in decarbonising energy‑intensive sectors as well as the value‑creation potential for the Ruhr region – including new export opportunities for German carbon management technologies and the safeguarding of high‑quality industrial jobs.
For the German Carbon Management Initiative, it is clear that a climate‑neutral industry cannot be achieved without consistent implementation of carbon management. “We need carbon management as a complement to efficiency, renewables and electrification,” emphasises Dr Timm Kehler, Board Member of the association Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft. Companies are ready to go with concrete projects, but can only implement them if a reliable legal framework, accelerated permitting and a clear pathway for building CO<sub>2</sub> infrastructure are in place.
Everllence is demonstrating in Oberhausen that the necessary technologies are already available. The company develops and supplies CO<sub>2</sub> compressors and complete compression systems that condition CO<sub>2</sub> for liquefaction, pipeline transport and storage and integrate these solutions into industrial plants. “Technology is not the bottleneck,” explains Dr Marco Ernst, Head of Segment CCU/S at Everllence. “We know how to capture, compress and transport CO<sub>2</sub> from flue gas streams. What matters now is that policy and regulation create the conditions for deploying these solutions at industrial scale and for developing viable long‑term business models.”
“More than 17 million tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> – that is what remains once we have fully leveraged all other levers: renewables, hydrogen, efficiency, recycling. For these volumes, we need carbon management. Not as an excuse, but as an answer. Especially for sectors such as cement and lime, there is no other way of combining climate action and competitiveness. North Rhine‑Westphalia wants both, and we are working towards this with full determination,” says Silke Krebs, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine‑Westphalia.
Dr Katharina Schubert, Managing Director of NRW.Energy4Climate, emphasises: “North Rhine‑Westphalia not only wants to preserve its industrial base, but to strengthen it for the future. CCU/S is an indispensable part of this path. With its dense industrial landscape, existing energy infrastructure and proximity to European CO<sub>2</sub> transport routes, the Ruhr region has the potential to become a central CO<sub>2</sub> hub for NRW, Germany and Europe. To achieve this, the right framework conditions must now be put in place.”
The joint event hosted by DCMI and Everllence highlights the potential of carbon management for climate action, value creation and employment – particularly in the Ruhr region. At the same time, it underscores the urgency to act: without clear decisions on CO<sub>2</sub> transport, use and storage, Germany risks falling behind other industrial regions.
