Portugal: The Portuguese Cement Association (ATIC), in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), has proposed the creation of a national carbon capture and storage infrastructure, according to the report ‘Portugal’s Carbon Link – White Paper’. The project intends to ‘save’ the competitiveness of hard-to-abate industries such as cement. It envisages a 660km onshore and 25km offshore pipeline network linking 20 industrial emitters to a geological storage site in the Lusitanian sedimentary basin. The basin has a potential capacity of 3Gt and will be capable of storing 300Mt of CO₂ over the coming decades.
The proposal will command an investment of €2bn between 2027 and 2056, GDP contribution of €14bn by 2065 and create up to 7000 jobs. Transport and storage costs will amount to around €25/t, with capture costing around €80-110/t. The study said that the final impact on construction costs would be ‘negligible’ (2-4%).
Managing director of BCG Lisbon Carlos Elavai said “The cement industry needs a viable solution by 2040,” arguing that Portugal should take advantage of the experience of other European countries to launch a pilot phase to validate the geology and regulatory framework.
