The Šoštanj project is the first case where a CCS feasibility assessment was carried out as a result of the CCS Directive, and the content of this CCS assessment was then challenged directly in front of the Commission. Unless the Commission provides further guidance to the interpretation of article 33.1 of the CCS Directive, there is a risk of new coal-fired power plants being built across the EU without real plans and conditions for CCS retrofit, locking in huge CO2 emissions for several decades.

With the aim to contribute to this interpretation, the new report prepared by The Bellona Foundation and the Environmental Law Service draws on CCS readiness definitions to identify which questions can reasonably be addressed – at low cost – already prior to permitting of a power plant, in order to comply with the Art. 33.1 of the Directive.