This map provides a comprehensive overview of European low-carbon liquid fuel projects and of their status. The data is regularly updated, as existing projects are progressing, and as new ones are set in motion.
Potential quantity of low-carbon liquid fuels produced per year in 2030
Potential quantity of low-carbon liquid fuels produced per year in 2030
Projects in Europe
CO2 captured/year
Projects in Europe
Lukoil is planning an investment project worth between 600 and 800 million on its Isab Refinery’s Sicilia. The dossier is being studied and is about to be finalized. The idea is to enter the eco-fuel market thanks to investments in technology that would lead to a transformation of the Priolo industrial complex.
Overall, according to forecasts, this project would lead to a further decrease in emissions by 30 percent.
Today, ExxonMobil and SGI are carrying out a basic research programme to develop advanced biofuels from algae. This joint effort is working towards the technical ability to produce 10,000 barrels of algae biofuels a day by 2025. The objective is to develop advanced algae biofuels options and identify the best pathways to make these groundbreaking technologies available to consumers. The programme builds off of the many insights we have obtained and the progress we have made since we announced our initial alliance with SGI in 2009.
Scientists from Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI) and ExxonMobil have developed a strain of algae that can convert carbon into a record amount of energy-rich fat, which can then be processed into biodiesel.
In September 2021, Crossbridge Energy Fredericia and Everfuel took – together with a number of partners and Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen (S) – the first sod for the hydrogen project HySynergy, which is located at the refinery in Fredericia.
The first phase will have a capacity of 20 MW, which will supply approximately eight tonnes of hydrogen per day. The plant is expected to be completed by mid-2022.
The HySynergy Phase II plant will send 80% of the hydrogen produced to the 70,000 b/d refinery for use as a feedstock in the refining process. The remaining 20% will go to hydrogen mobility applications.
The planned 20 MW is projected to be expanded to 300 MW in 2025 and 1 GW in the longer term.
On completion, the facility will cut 214,000 mt/year of CO2 emissions, lowering Danish land transport-related CO2 emissions by almost 5% by 2025, Everfuel said. This would contribute to Denmark’s objective of reducing CO2 emissions by 70% by 2030.
ExxonMobil recently announced an agreement with alternative fuels developer Global Clean Energy to purchase renewable diesel. The engine-ready fuel will be partially derived from camelina, a plant that does not displace food crops and could have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the road– a win-win. This agreement was expanded in April 2021 to increase ExxonMobil’s purchase of renewable diesel up to 5 million bbl/yr.
Italian oil products provider Saras and Enel Green Power–the renewable energy arm of Italian power utility Enel– are planning to set up green hydrogen production at Saras’ Sarroch industrial site in the province of Cagliari, on Italy’s second-largest island, Sardinia.
The Sarroch site covers a surface area of 734.56 hectares, 90% of which is occupied by the Saras oil refinery and its associated petrochemical plants and service operations. “Our Sarroch site is particularly suited–due to its size, location and structural characteristics–to develop and host a green hydrogen production project with clear potential for development and growth,” said Saras CEO Dario Scaffardi.
Green energy production should be ensured by a 20 MW electrolyzer powered by renewable energy produced on-site and the produced fuel is expected to be used as a raw material in the Saras refinery. The Italian energy company did not specify what kind of renewable energy technology will be used to power the electrolyzer.
HELPE is exploring the viability of co-processing Used Cooking Oil in one of its refineries in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece. To that end is currently engaged in a screening study with the unit licensor. UCO will consist of 5% volume of the processing mixture. As a result, an annual production of 22,000 tonnes HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) is expected, which will be an integral part of the final diesel product. HVO is characterized as a premium “drop-in fuel” that can replace diesel without modifications to existing refueling systems and/or vehicles.
Our member MOL Group has become a biofuel producer by purchasing 500,000 tonnes of biofuels for blending, through an investment in its Danube Refinery in Szazhalombatta, Hungary. The production will be done by processing vegetable oils, used cooking oils and animal fats together with fossil fuel components to create more sustainable diesel. Over the next five years it plans to invest $1 billion in new, low-carbon and sustainable businesses to become a key player in the central and eastern European circular economy. This move will reduce up to 200,000 tonnes per year of CO2 emissions.
The MultiPLHY project aims at installing, integrating and operating the world’s first high-temperature electrolyzer system in multi-megawatt-scale (~2.4 MW) at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam to demonstrate production of green hydrogen for the refinery’s processes. The technology of the high-temperature electrolyzer is provided by Sunfire. The multidisciplinary consortium gathers NESTE, ENGIE, PaulWurth, Sunfire and RTO CEA, coordinating the project.
Neste and Air bp have signed an agreement to offer an increased volume of sustainable aviation fuel to airport customers in 2020 and 2021. The volume is five times larger than that supplied by the businesses in 2019. Air bp will make the Neste-produced SAF available at selected airports in Europe, with deliveries to airports including Stockholm (ARN) and Oslo (OSL) expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Airbus, German research centre DLR, Rolls-Royce and SAF producer Neste have teamed up to start the pioneering ‘Emission and Climate Impact of Alternative Fuels’ (ECLIF3) project looking into the effects of 100% SAF on aircraft emissions and performance. Initial findings from a world-first study of the impact of 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on both engines of a commercial jet have provided promising early results. The interdisciplinary team, which also includes researchers from the National Research Council of Canada and The University of Manchester, plans to publish its results in academic journals towards the end of next year and in 2023.
bp has partnered with Danish energy giant Orsted to develop a green hydrogen development in Lingen refinery in North West Germany. The two have signed a letter of intent to work together on the development of an industrial-scale green hydrogen production project. When operational in 2024, the industrial-scale 50MW electrolyser could generate one tonne of renewable hydrogen per hour. The energy produced by the green hydrogen project could be sufficient to replace more than 20% of Lingen’s current grey hydrogen consumption.
In H-vision sixteen parties, predominantly from the port of Rotterdam industrial area, collaborate in a detailed study to explore the large-scale production and application of blue hydrogen in the Rotterdam industrial area. The objective is to supply decarbonised energy by replacing natural gas and coal with blue hydrogen. It is also studying how residual gases from the refining and chemical industry can be utilized to further enhance sustainability.
H-vision also anticipates the arrival of green hydrogen, which is produced via electrolysis using power sourced from renewable sources like offshore wind farms.
bp, Evonik, Nowega, OGE, RWE Generation, Salzgitter Flachstahl and Thyssengas have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop the GET H2 Nukleus project in Germany. The goal is to make the H2 Nukleus Germany’s first publicly accessible hydrogen network and to supply increasing quantities of green hydrogen (H2) to industrial companies in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia from late 2022 onwards. The overall project should be able to avoid CO2 emissions of up to 16 million tonnes by 2030
Neste’s SHARC –Sustainable Hydrogen and Recovery of Carbon –will reduce emissions at the Porvoo refinery, Finland by moving from grey hydrogen towards green hydrogen through the introduction of electrolysis facilities and blue hydrogen by application of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Hydrogen is essential in the production processes of transportation fuels, so the green and blue hydrogen will reduce the carbon intensity of these fuels. SHARC will also scale the production of green hydrogen to help make it a viable transportation fuel itself. Through this transition, SHARC will save more than 4 Mt CO2 in the first 10 years of operation. The novel water electrolysis technology applied by SHARC has a capacity of 50 MW. This, combined with CCS will maximise the environmental impact and the development of a strong supply chain from the refinery, by ship to a storage site and will lay the foundation for a European hub for renewable hydrogen and CO2 utilisation.
A Swedish-Norwegian research project with Preem and Equinor signature is looking into the possibilities and costs of transporting CO2 captured in Sweden for storage on the Norwegian shelf. The objective is to investigate the possibilities of establishing a full-scale facility for the capture and transport of CO2 from the Preem refinery and wet gas plant at Lysekil, which would help reduce CO2 emissions by up to 500,000 tons per year.
Shell and Dutch gas company Gasunie plan to build a massive green hydrogen plant in the northern Netherlands in the next decade to cut emissions. Fuelled by a large new wind farm off the coast of Groningen province, the plant would be able to produce 800,000 tonnes of hydrogen by 2040, cutting the Netherlands’ CO2 emissions by about 7 megaton per year. The project is NortH2. In 2022, energy company Eneco and OCI, a global producer and distributor of hydrogen-based products, have joined the NortH2 green hydrogen consortium as collaborative partners.
Northern Lights – involving Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies – is developing the world’s first open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure. They deliver carbon storage as a service with the aim to help industrial emitters stop emissions that cannot be avoided in other ways from reaching the atmosphere and to provide a safe and permanent storage option for CO2 that is removed from the air. The full-scale project is a result of The Norwegian government’s ambition to develop a full-scale CCS value chain in Norway by 2024. The European Commission announced early 2022 that EU countries have agreed to award Northern Lights €4 million under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding scheme. The funding is earmarked for Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) studies for the expansion of the Northern Lights CO2 transport and storage capacity to over 5 million tonnes per year.
The French major energy company, TotalEnergies, combined forces with Sunfire, a leading global cleantech company, by signing a cooperation agreement, the first step for the industrial-scale production of synthetic methanol from renewables and industrial concentrated CO2 from the TotalEnergies Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland GmbH.
TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and INEOS have partnered with four companies and the Port of Antwerp and have signed a collaboration agreement as a first move towards the possible development of Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage (CCUS) infrastructure in the Belgian port. Together, the eight partners will carry out a joint study into the economic and technical feasibility of such facilities, in an important step for the transition to a lower emissions port. In the end of 2020, the project received from the EU two subsidies amount to circa EUR 9 million. A feasibility study was carried out in 2021 and with the newly announced engineering studies, the port authority will further investigate the construction of a central backbone through the port area along the industrial zones on both banks of the river Scheldt. After engineering studies are completed, a final investment decision for the first phase is expected in late 2022.
Bp announced in February its ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner. To deliver that ambition, the company has launched its new strategy that will reshape its business within a decade as it changes from an international oil company focused on producing resources to an integrated energy company focused on delivering solutions for customers. By 2030 bp expects to scale up annual low-carbon investment to around $5b a year (10 times bp’s current investment level) and reduce oil and gas production by 40%.
In February 2020, The Italian company Eni pledged to shrink its net GHG emissions of their energy products by 2050 in one of the industry’s most ambitious clean-up drives. Some of the objectives were: 1) Upstream production growth at an annual rate of 3.5% up to 2025, subsequent flexible decline mainly for oil. Gas production by 2050 will make up about 85% of total production; 2) Refining: gradual conversion of Italian sites by focusing on new technologies for the production of decarbonised products from the recycling of waste materials. Increase in bio-refining capacity to 5 million tonnes per year, palm-oil free from 2023, 7 years ahead of the EU ban; 3) Carbon footprint: developed methodology, reviewed and verified by third parties, for the comprehensive measurement of emissions. On this basis, fixed 2050 reduction targets of 80% of absolute emissions and of 55% on emission intensity.
In February 2021, the oil giant presented the new Strategy 2021-2024 that accelerates the transformation already under way by committing to reach the target of zero net emissions (Scopes 1 + 2 + 3) by 2050.
Equinor has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions from Norwegian oil and gasfields by 40% in the next decade. The first phase of the plan to reduce emissions by 2030 means more than 5 million tonnes in annual reductions, representing around 10% of total annual Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions today. Total emissions for Equinor operated fields and plants in 2018 were around 13 million tonnes, approximately the same level as in 2005. The ambition will cover all greenhouse gas emissions from offshore fields and onshore plants operated by Equinor in Norway, including both Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of CO2 and methane. Since methane emissions are very low at the Norwegian continental shelf, the CO2-emissions is the predominant part.
In June 2021, Equinor updated its strategy. The company plans to accelerate the transition and set an ambition to reach a 40% reduction in net carbon intensity by 2035, on the way towards net-zero by 2050.
Galp shared its path to decarbonisation. Committed to Europe’s carbon neutrality vision by 2050, the Portuguese energy company has set new long-term objectives: reduction of 40% of absolute emissions from operations (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) in 2030; reduction of 40% of the production carbon intensity in 2030; reduction of 20% of the all downstream sales carbon intensity in 2030.
HELPE Group set a target for reducing its carbon footprint by 50% until 2030. The announcement was made when the Greek company acquired a portfolio of photovoltaic projects at final permitting stage, which is expected to generate 300 GWh annually, sufficient to power 75,000 homes with zero-emission energy, with a CO2 emission avoidance of around 300,000 tonnes per year.
Neste announced its commitment to reaching carbon neutral production by 2035. This ambition complements Neste’s other strategic climate commitment of reducing customers’ greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 Mt annually by 2030. The company has already identified more than 50 different measures and actions to decrease GHG emissions in production. For example, Neste: continues to focus on energy efficiency to optimize the use of fuel gas, electricity, hydrogen and steam in its production; increases the weight of greenhouse gas emissions in the investment calculations and business case evaluation; explores new, less emitting production methods, for example utilizing biogas or electrolysis for hydrogen production; has started a project for GHG emission reductions at the Porvoo production site, focusing on CCS. In 2021, Neste decided to set a concrete target for Scope 3 emissions to reduce the use phase emission intensity of sold products by 50% by 2040 compared to 2020 levels.
OMV, the international, integrated oil, gas and chemicals company headquartered in Vienna, Austria, presents its Strategy 2030 today. The firm has set out to transform itself into a sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials company with a strong focus on circular economy solutions. Based on this new strategy representing the most fundamental strategic shift in the company’s history, OMV aims to become a net-zero emissions company by no later than 2050. The business segment Chemicals & Materials will be the growth engine of the company. It is to be substantially strengthened, expanded, and diversified, with the aim to establish a globally leading position in circular economy solutions. The Refining & Marketing business is to become a leading European provider of sustainable fuels, feedstock, and mobility solutions. In line with the ambition to become a net-zero company, OMV will reduce its oil and gas production by around 20% by 2030 and will completely cease oil and gas production for energy use by 2050. At the same time Exploration & Production business segment will invest in geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS) leveraging existing assets and capabilities and contribute to a more sustainable society.
OMV plans to build a pilot plant at its Schwechat Refinery, which will produce second-generation biofuels from 2023 using a patented process developed in-house. A typical refining process will see the waste-based substance glycerin turned into bio-alcohol, which when added to gasoline reduces its CO2 footprint. The capacity of the pilot plant ‘Glycerin2Propanol’ will be 1.25 mn liters of propanol per year. This will lead to a CO2 reduction of around 1,800 metric tonnes.
PKN Orlen has pledged to achieve emission neutrality by 2050 and to invest more than zlotys 25 billion (EUR 5.6 bln) in environmental impact mitigation projects in the coming 10 years.
In order to reach its goal, by 2030 the company will reduce CO2 emissions from its current refining and petrochemical assets by 20% and emissions from power generation by 33% CO2/MWh.
The company’s emission neutrality strategy has four main elements, according to its announcement. These are: improving energy efficiency in production, zero- and low-emission power generation, the development of alternative fuels and green financing.
Repsol has announced more ambitious targets that will accelerate its energy transition to become a net zero emissions company by 2050. This ambition entails directing all of its activities and investments to meeting new and more stringent plans all in alignment with the Paris Agreement’s climate goals. To achieve this objective, Repsol is setting new goals for the reduction of its carbon intensity indicator from a 2016 baseline: 15% by 2025, 28% by 2030, 55% by 2040, and net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. It is possible to achieve at least 70% of this target with the technology that can currently be foreseen, and the company is committed to applying the best available technologies to increase this figure, including carbon capture, use and storage. Repsol would, if necessary, aditionally offset emissions through reforestation and other natural climate sinks to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. The company plans to increases investments in the 2021-2025 period to €19.3 billion, allocating an additional €1 billion over the period of the Strategic Plan to step up its renewable electricity generation capacity and production of renewable hydrogen, as well as other low-carbon initiatives.
