France to Host EU's First Onshore Carbon Removal and Storage Facility

A groundbreaking project in France could play a pivotal role in advancing Europe's climate goals. On Monday, a partnership was announced between carbon storage start-ups RepAir Carbon and C-Questra, marking the launch of the European Union's first onshore Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) facility.

This collaboration will bring the first onshore Direct Air Capture and Storage (DACS) system to the EU, situated in France. The initiative is expected to contribute significantly to Europe's efforts to mitigate climate change by capturing and storing atmospheric carbon.

Dutch start-up C-Questra, which specializes in carbon storage, has teamed up with the American carbon removal company RepAir Carbon. This partnership aims to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air and store it securely underground.

One of the challenges with current Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies is their high energy consumption, which can lead to more CO2 emissions than they capture, and the costs can become prohibitive when scaled. These systems also typically rely on solvents and sorbents that need frequent replacement, posing potential health and safety risks.

However, RepAir Carbon's innovative solution minimizes these issues by eliminating the need for heat and relying solely on electricity, reducing energy consumption by 70%, according to the company.

While carbon storage comes with its own set of safety concerns, the companies involved in this project assure that the CO2 will be stored in underground geological formations like saline aquifers. They have also committed to implementing a thorough monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system to ensure the safety, permanence, and integrity of the entire CO2 value chain, from capture to permanent storage.

As an onshore project, this initiative is more cost-effective because it avoids the need for expensive offshore infrastructure. The facility will be located near Paris, in Grandpuits, within the Île-de-France region, where C-Questra has applied for a permit to establish the onshore CO2 storage site.

The project aims to remove 100,000 tons of CO2 annually by 2030, with the potential to scale up to megatons by 2035.

In a related development, Southern Europe is working to create the first commercial-scale CO2 storage hub as part of the Mediterranean Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Strategic Plan, a collaborative effort involving France, Italy, and Greece. This initiative also seeks to streamline processes and reduce costs by eliminating the need for midstream and offshore infrastructure.

This partnership in France follows a significant carbon removal project recently launched in Greece.

Jean-Philippe Hiegel, Head of Strategy and Growth at RepAir Carbon, highlighted the importance of this initiative in a press release, stating, "This project sets a new benchmark for efficient and scalable carbon removal in Europe. Our technology, which consumes just 0.6 MWh per ton of CO2 captured—compared to 2.5 MWh for most competitors—combined with C-Questra's expertise in carbon storage, addresses a critical obstacle to widespread DACS adoption."

He added, "This development is particularly exciting given the urgent global need for decarbonization."

The EU's first onshore carbon removal and storage project in France builds on the momentum from Iceland, where another direct air capture and storage facility was launched in 2021.