The Greek government is pursuing the prospect of transporting and storing CO2 emission quantities beyond the EU, in Egypt, as part of a plan to help local industries reduce their carbon footprint through carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions.

Athens has reached out to the European Commission for a revision of its industrial emissions management strategy that could permit storage of captured CO2 in countries outside the EU.

The Greek government supports that the geology in Europe’s south differs from that in the north, meaning that geological structures suitable for CO2 storage in Mediterranean countries are scarce.

The prospect of Greek industries utilizing carbon emissions storage infrastructure to be developed in Egypt has been extensively discussed at recent meetings between the governments of the two countries.

These talks have been constructive and established firm ground for further cooperation between Greece and Egypt in the CCS sector, amongst other fields, sources told energypress.

Greece’s carbon emissions are estimated to total 15 million tons, annually, well above the storage capacity of the prospective Prinos CCS project planned by Energean in the country’s north. This project is expected to offer a carbon storage capacity of between 3 and 4 million tons.