The renaissance of carbon capture and storage in Germany and the politics of conditionality

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is currently experiencing a renaissance, especially as a means to address so-called hard-to-abate emissions and achieve net-zero climate targets through carbon dioxide removal. However, the role of CCS in climate policy is controversial, given concerns over reinforced carbon lock-in and its potential to weaken other mitigation efforts (mitigation deterrence). We investigate why and how CCS has made a comeback in Germany. Based on approaches from critical political economy and historical-materialist policy analysis (HMPA) we find that the main fault line is whether CCS should be applied only conditionally to hard-to-abate emissions or in a technology-open approach. Our results reveal coalitional, discursive and institutional factors that undermined a limited, conditional approach to CCS that would have reduced the risk of carbon lock-in compared to a technology-open approach.