Beneath the Surface: A Historical-Materialist Policy Analysis of Ownership Structures Behind the European CCS Landscape and Their Implications for a Just Socio-Ecological Transition

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has become a central pillar of European and international climate mitigation scenarios. In the context of net-zero targets and increasing reliance on carbon dioxide removal (CDR), CCS is widely portrayed as indispensable for achieving the 1.5°C goal, particularly in so-called hard-to-abate sectors. Despite these expectations, CCS remains highly contested with regard to technological scalability, geological storage limits, energy and land requirements, economic viability, societal acceptance, and its environmental implications. However, less attention has been paid to the political-economic structures underpinning its deployment and its distributive and justice effects. These debates are important because there is a close link between climate change, energy policy and inequality. Critical social science has increasingly addressed CCS as a potential source of mitigation deterrence, but there is a need for more systematic research on ownership, capital relations, and power structures behind the future European CCS infrastructure. This paper examines the ownership structures underpinning European CCS infrastructure and projects and investigates their implications for distributive and environmental justice in the context of a just socio-ecological transition. Building on a historical-materialist policy analysis (HMPA) and critical climate justice, this paper conceptualises CCS as a technology emerging from and embedded within fossil capitalism. Rather than challenging underlying accumulation dynamics, I understand CCS as a spatio-temporal fix that channels capital into new infrastructures while sustaining fossil fuel-based production and delaying structural transformation. CCS is further situated within broader dynamics of asset manager capitalism, financialisation, asset stranding and revaluation. I use critical climate justice to interrogate where value is created for whom and to assess how control over scarce resources such as geological storage capacity, land, energy, and public finance affects inequality. Empirically, this study combines qualitative and quantitative methods. It draws on document analysis of EU funding schemes, corporate reports, shareholder and financial data and network analysis of CCS project databases. Further using expert interviews, the analysis maps the emerging European CCS landscape, identifies central actors and investment trajectories, and examines the role of public funding in shaping industry pathways. Selected case studies of large-scale CCS projects enable a more detailed examination of ownership relations, shareholder structures, and capital flows across capture, transport, and storage infrastructures. This paper highlights how current CCS trajectories risk reinforcing carbon lock-in and existing inequalities by privileging incumbent fossil fuel and heavy industry actors through public subsidies and infrastructure investments. It argues that analysis of ownership and control over CCS infrastructure are central to understanding who benefits from the reconfiguration of European energy policy and thus determining the shape of the transition towards a low-carbon economy.