On this day, April 23, 2009, the EU Parliament waves through another piece of the legal/regulator puzzle in favour of then white-hot CCS.
Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC, European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/60/EC, 2001/80/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2006/12/EC, 2008/1/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 (Text with EEA relevance)
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 390ppm. As of 2025 it is 427ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that the CCS bandwagon had been kicked into shape in the early 2000s, and while initially viewed as a dodgy technofix by many, the momentum for it had been built, including by people who Saw No Alternative. Copenhagen was coming, and the EU needed to look like it was All Systems Go.
What we learn is that even ridiculous schemes (in every sense) will ‘win in the short term, if enough people bite their tongues, for various reasons of their own.
What happened next. The Global Financial Crisis made the numbers even suckier. The Copenhagen conference ended in farce. The EU funding for CCS etc fell apart. The UK first competition fell apart. But here we are, sixteen years later, with CCS STILL as the Big Hope. What a species
Also on this day:
April 23, 1954 – Irish Times runs carbon dioxide/climate story. Yes, 1954.
April 23, 1970 – book review nails coming #climate problems…
April 23, 1998 – Michael Mann’s Hockey Stick paper published.
April 23, 2009 – denialists caught denying their own scientists…
April 23, 2013 – Power Companies want Abbott to rethink Direct Action – All Our Yesterdays