CCSA EU Conference 2026: Europe shifts carbon capture debate from ambition to execution

The CCSA EU Conference 2026 in Brussels marked a shift in Europe's carbon capture conversation from setting goals to building projects. Panels focused on the commercial and regulatory hurdles that remain, with speakers from Holcim, Gasunie, and Bellona Europa all pointing to policy predictability and infrastructure coordination as the main bottlenecks. The technology is ready, but getting multiple emitters to final investment decisions at the same time is proving harder than expected. Key themes included the need for carbon contracts for difference to de-risk investment, the challenge of building cross-border CO2 transport networks, and the tension between developers who have storage ready and emitters who are slow to commit. The North Sea session highlighted that storage capacity exists but commercial alignment lags. The conference made clear that Europe's CCS debate has moved past whether to capture carbon and onto how to pay for it, who takes the risk, and how to build the shared infrastructure fast enough to meet climate targets.