SCCS will contribute to the Horizon Europe-funded CO₂SITE project, a CO₂ Storage Investment Atlas for Europe (Grant Agreement 101269347), which officially launched on 1 June 2026.
This 3-year project will support investments in the development of carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage capacity across Europe.
Developing an open-access European storage atlas
CO₂SITE will develop an open-access digital atlas of investable CO₂ storage sites across the EU and European Economic Area (EEA). The resource aims to help project developers identify and assess potential storage locations, supporting site screening, portfolio research and investment decisions.
The Atlas will integrate geological, technical, economic and regulatory information, alongside infrastructure availability, legacy well data, funding mechanisms and analysis of potential barriers to cross-border CO₂ transport. It will also incorporate site-specific risk assessments, dynamic storage-capacity estimates and tools for comparing locations according to user-defined criteria.
Supporting policy and investment
Beyond industry, CO₂SITE aims to provide regional and national authorities with evidence to assess the feasibility of developing individual storage sites and wider carbon capture and storage (CCS) clusters. Its findings are intended to support policy decisions and help regulators target future storage licensing.
Building on more than two decades of European geological carbon storage expertise and existing storage-data initiatives, the project will cover a broad geographical region and bring together geological surveys from across the EU and EEA.
The knowledge base, often dispersed across countries and disciplines, will be combined in the Atlas to improve understanding of Europe’s potential storage resources and provide practical tools for planning future CO₂ storage development.
The role of SCCS
SCCS, representing the School of GeoSciences and The University of Edinburgh, is a key contributor to the regulatory analysis and regional strategic planning elements of CO₂SITE. We will be serving as a bridge between the technical storage appraisal and the policy ecosystem. Our involvement spans eight work packages, with substantive contributions allocated to WP2 (Regional State of Play), WP3 (Regulations) and WP7 (Regional Plans for Investment).
SCCS Net Zero Policy & Storage Research Adviser Dr Andrew Cavanagh said, “I’m very happy and proud to be representing the University of Edinburgh on this important pan-European project and delighted to work with colleagues, old and new, on a better understanding of our shared resource base for this vital technology.”
Image: TNO (CO₂SITE kick-off mtg. in the Netherlands)
