Carbon Gap and Deloitte North and South Europe (NSE) have published a new report that highlights the potential for integrating carbon dioxide removal (CDR) into the wastewater, concrete, and mining waste sectors in Europe.
According to the report, these sectors could significantly boost the scaling of CDR in this region. By embedding carbon removal solutions into existing infrastructure from these industries, Europe can advance towards its net-zero goals.
This enhancement would also the wastewater management, concrete recycling, and mining waste management sector shift from sources of emissions into climate solutions.
Eline Brugman, Sustainability & Climate Leader at Deloitte Belgium explained, “We are overlooking a major opportunity to turn waste streams into carbon sinks. With the right policies, these sectors can become a meaningful pillar of Europe’s climate strategy.”
As pointed out in the report, by integrating CDR, these three sectors could potentially tackle more CO2 emissions than the greenhouse gasses (GHG) they emit. The implementation would also come with minimal economic impact, especially for wastewater management and concrete recycling.
The publication notes that despite these opportunities, deployment is still at early stage, and there are still bottlenecks that need to be addressed, such as knowledge gaps, incomplete GHG inventories, and a limited number of operational projects.
Additionally, CDR scaling is held back by weak voluntary demand and lack of clear policy frameworks, while real-world implementation is challenged by the lack of CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.
Garbon Gap recommends a set of actions that can help address these issues, including prioritizing research efforts, dedicated public funding, and stronger monitoring and reporting rules. Another helpful motion would be to include these sectors in CDR purchasing schemes.
The report provides clear, actionable policy pathways within existing EU frameworks to unlock this CDR potential within the three mentioned sectors.
For wastewater, it proposes extending the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive to include GHG emissions or CDR targets, which would create a clear signal for deployment, while for mining waste, introducing GHG emissions targets in the Extractive Waste Directive and recognising enhanced mineralisation as a best available technique under the Industrial Emissions Directive, which would support innovation and investment.
Lastly, for concrete recycling, the report states that setting minimum carbonation requirements for recycled concrete aggregates, establishing harmonised EU standards on the maximum content of (carbonated) recycled concrete aggregates in new concrete, and leveraging public procurement can help drive adoption at scale.
The full report can be found here.
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