CCS and CCU: The Carbon Dioxide Storage and Transportation Act’s role in transforming pipeline networks

The Carbon Dioxide Storage and Transportation Act (Kohlendioxid-Speicherung-und-Transport-Gesetz, “KSpTG”) came into force on 28 November 2025, creating a comprehensive legal framework for the industrial use of CCS/CCU technology and introducing specific provisions to facilitate converting existing infrastructure to transport CO₂. Under section 4a KSpTG, current permits for gas, hydrogen and product pipelines will also apply to the transport of CO₂ under certain conditions – allowing operators to repurpose their infrastructure quickly and efficiently.

Climate policy and technical overview

The 2024 global average temperature was 1.6°C above pre-industrial levels. To limit warming to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” – a key aspect of the Paris Agreement – Germany’s Federal Climate Action Act (Klimaschutzgesetz, “KSG”) sets out mandatory greenhouse gas reduction targets including net greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”), accomplishing those reductions will require “deep, rapid and sustained mitigation”. Carbon capture and storage (“CCS”), a term that describes the technical processes to capture CO₂ from a plant’s exhaust gas, transport it and inject it underground for permanent storage, is increasingly seen as indispensable to those efforts. With CCS, the bulk of CO₂ emissions are prevented from entering the atmosphere, opening the prospect of climate neutrality for processes in which it has previously not been possible or at least difficult to avoid the release of CO₂. Instead of being injected into permanent underground storage, the captured CO₂ can also be repurposed as a raw material, for example in chemicals production. This is known as carbon capture and utilisation (“CCU”).

Origins of the KSpTG

The KSpTG entered into force on 28 November 2025 and amends the Carbon Dioxide Storage Act (Kohlendioxid-Speichergesetz, “KSpG”) of 2012, which was passed to transpose the European CCS Directive (Directive 2009/31/EC) into German law. Despite geological CO₂ storage projects in Norway dating back to 1996, there was still marked resistance to the technology in Germany when the CCS Directive was transposed in 2011 and 2012. Debate focused on concerns over the integrity of storage sites, potential environmental impacts and prioritising CO₂-free technologies. Consequently, the KSpG allowed the research, testing and demonstration of storage technologies (sections 1, 2(1) KSpG, old version), but did not authorise industrial use. 

New impetus arrived in 2024 when extensive national and international studies and assessments determined that CO₂ storage was essential to meeting climate goals. Despite technological advancements, some industries – such as lime and cement production – cannot fully avoid greenhouse gas emissions. Those production processes must still be gradually decarbonised in order to achieve the climate targets, as outlined in the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act of 13 June 2024 and the key proposals published by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz) on 26 February 2024 (see our article here).

Although the previous government did introduce a bill to amend the KSpG, it was ultimately not passed. The new government, however, has taken up key aspects of the 2024 draft in the KSpTG, which has now come into force, notably allowing storage and transport using CCS and CCU technologies for industrial purposes and implementing a key objective from the coalition agreement (see our article here).

Key elements of the KSpTG 

• Scope: The KspTG governs the permitting and operation of CO₂ pipelines as well as the construction, operation, decommissioning and aftercare of facilities for the permanent geological storage of CO₂. It covers transport via pipelines – including for further utilisation – and the storage of CO₂ extracted from the atmosphere (direct air capture). It does not permit the transport or storage of CO₂ from coal-fired power plants, however. While the KspTG focuses on offshore operations, the Federal States can allow onshore storage by explicitly opting in. The authority responsible for permitting and operation is the authority designated under the respective Federal State law.
• Authorised zones for CO₂ storage and protected areas: CO₂ storage facilities for commercial use may be built on Germany’s continental shelf and its exclusive economic zone. They must generally be at least 8 km away from marine protected areas and additional species protection requirements apply (e.g. to protect porpoises). Storage facilities must not significantly interfere with offshore wind farms, connection lines or hydrogen pipelines, and spatial planning objectives and site development plans must be taken into account. Before any permit can be issued, the relevant authority designated under Federal State law must obtain opinions – and in some cases, consent – from numerous other authorities, namely the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe), the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz), the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie) and the Federal Waterways and Shipping Agency (Generaldirektion Wasserstraßen und Schifffahrt).
• Planning permission and procedure: The construction, operation and modification of CO₂ pipelines as well as the construction, operation and significant modification of CO₂ storage facilities are subject to planning permission; the simplified planning approval procedure may apply in very narrowly defined cases. Pipelines and storage facilities are classified as being in the overriding public interest (except in specially protected marine areas). The concept of overriding public interest is already established in related areas (cf. section 1(3) Offshore Wind Energy Act (Windenergie-auf-See-Gesetz), section 43(3a), sentence 1 Energy Industry Act (Energiewirtschaftsgesetz, “EnWG”), section 4, sentence 1 Geothermal Energy Acceleration Act (Geothermie-Beschleunigungsgesetz)). The KSpTG also provides for expropriation measures, early start of construction, preparatory work and expedited legal protection. The planning permission procedure is closely modelled on that under the EnWG (including references to sections 43a et seq. and 44 et seq. EnWG) and provides for a mandatory environmental impact assessment, safety and monitoring obligations, financial safeguards and annual oversight by the competent authority. The European Commission must be involved in the planning permission procedures for storage facilities and its comments must be taken into account in the final decision.
• Access: Operators must provide non-discriminatory connection and access to the network, but may refuse this where capacity constraints or compelling legal grounds apply, in which case they are obliged to take reasonable steps to expand the network. The Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has the authority to establish conditions for connection and access and enforce compliance with them. Connection and access are subject to a separate procedure conducted by the Bundesnetzagentur and decisions may be appealed before the competent higher regional court.
• Material requirements for the operation of storage facilities: Prerequisites for approval include guaranteeing the long-term safety of the facility, including the protection of groundwater, taking measures to prevent leaks and providing financial safeguards. Operators must submit and regularly update safety and monitoring plans and carry out a wide range of monitoring activities. They are required to report and take measures to remedy leaks without delay. Approval is also required to decommission storage facilities; responsibility can be transferred to the respective Federal State at the earliest 40 years after decommissioning and only under certain conditions.
• Transparency: The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, as the registration authority, will keep a publicly accessible register of CO₂ pipelines and storage facilities.

Transformation of existing pipeline networks 

Existing networks will play a key role in the future transport of CO₂. Gas, hydrogen and product pipelines can be converted to transport CO₂ to storage sites, which is considerably cheaper than building new pipelines. Section 4a KSpTG aims to expedite the transformation of existing networks by introducing a limited presumption of approval: Official permits for the construction, modification and operation of gas, hydrogen and product pipelines, including the systems necessary for their operation – insofar as they have been integrated into a planning permission procedure and are not systems requiring approval under the Federal Emissions Control Act (Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz) – are also deemed to be permits for the transport of CO₂. This also applies to notifiable gas, hydrogen and product pipelines. According to section 113c(3) EnWG, the change in use must be reported to the competent authority designated by Federal State law and the pipeline must continue to meet the technical safety requirements under section 49(1) EnWG after being converted for the transport of CO₂. Transmission system operators can indicate potentially convertible pipelines in the network development plan. New CO₂ pipelines and significant modifications remain subject to planning permission, however, although minor modifications can be made in the notification procedure.

Conclusion and outlook 

By making it possible to use CCS and CCU technologies commercially, the new KSpTG has laid the cornerstone for the expansion of CO₂ infrastructure. Businesses can now press ahead with their CO₂ transport and storage projects. The presumption of approval introduced in the new KSpTG will facilitate the transformation of existing pipeline networks – especially gas networks, where a switch to CO₂ transport would make sense given the declining demand for gas in future. The KSpTG does not deal with usage fees, but there are discussions about refinancing via network fees based on the gas network model, flanked by start-up funding from the Federal Government and the EU.

And the new Act may soon have to be amended: The European Commission has already announced a legal framework for cross-border CO₂ networks in Europe.