Code name: GOCO2. Objective: “accelerate the decarbonization of industrial sites in the Great West of France, in addition to actions to avoid and reduce CO2 emissions”. Four manufacturers TotalEnergies, Heidelberg Materials, Lafarge and Lhoist and two gas operators GRT gaz and Elengy, announced on Monday the launch of a “major project” to capture CO2 on sites in the Great West for geological storage areas. permanent.
This project, supported by the Pays-de-la-Loire region and the major maritime port of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, aims to transport CO2 “by pipeline to the Saint-Nazaire maritime export terminal for permanent geological storage areas, for an estimated capacity of 2.6 million tonnes per year by 2030”, indicate the project leaders, without specifying the location of the storage areas. “Convinced of the value of a collective approach, the partners of the GOCO2 project are preparing to jointly undertake the studies necessary for this decarbonization project planned for 2030”, they underline.
Up to 4 million tons per year
According to manufacturers, this decarbonization project “the largest in western France in terms of volume of CO2 captured and transported” could “eventually transport and export up to 4 million tonnes per year of CO2 in 2050, i.e. more than 75% of industrial emissions in the Great West of France, by this timeframe”. GOCO2, which benefits “in part from already existing infrastructures within the large maritime port of Nantes-Saint Nazaire”, will “eventually transport CO2 emissions from other manufacturers in the Grand-Ouest, or biogenic CO2 from of the purification of biomethane”, according to the press release.
Long perceived as marginal, CO2 elimination measures are now considered a necessary tool in the fight against climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Last year, the IPCC report changed its mind on CO2 capture, saying it would not be enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Paris Agreement targets by 2050. Given the acceleration of global warming, it will also be necessary to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.