On 22 October 2026, Heidelberg Materials announced the pausing of the GeZero carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at the Geseke plant in Germany. The reason given by the company was not technology, but that CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure has not kept pace. This is not the first: in November 2025, Heidelberg's Slite project in Sweden was also paused after failing to obtain state co-funding. Looking at several projects together, European cement CCS projects broadly fall into two categories: those with state funding or support for the associated transport and storage chain, and those without.

The following facts are as of 27 October 2026. The opinion section is labelled separately.

What Happened

In its press release of 22 October, Heidelberg Materials stated that it decided to pause GeZero "in its current form" and continue to optimise the project setup; the project "cannot progress as planned". The reason given by the company is that current framework conditions are not yet sufficient to support a robust business case, particularly because the relevant value chain is not yet mature enough to ensure that CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure is in place on time and with acceptable economic risks [Source 1].

The press release also explained that this decision relates solely to the GeZero CCS project and has no direct impact on the day-to-day operations of the Geseke plant [Source 1].

GeZero is a project supported by the EU Innovation Fund, which was approved for EUR 191 million in funding in December 2023 [Source 2].

The company also explicitly set out conditions: CCUS projects depend on CO₂ infrastructure and involve multiple market participants across transport and storage, requiring "a government-backed de-risking mechanism for early movers"; for inland plants, onshore storage helps reduce costs [Source 1].

A point of confusion needs to be avoided: Dyckerhoff launched a pilot test in collaboration with Capsol Technologies at its own Geseke plant on 29 April 2026, capturing and liquefying CO₂ before storing it in tanks, supported by a project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy [Source 3]. That was a test at Dyckerhoff's own plant, the page makes no mention of GeZero, and the two are not the same project.