March 13, 2026 [Renewables Now]- The European Commission said on Wednesday it has approved EUR 260 million (USD 299.9m) in Belgian state aid for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project led by France’s Air Liquide (EPA:AI) and Germany’s BASF SE (ETR:BAS) through their Belgium-based entities.

The funding will support the Kairos@C project (also known as Kairos-at-C), which Air Liquide and BASF want to set up to capture carbon dioxide emissions from their existing industrial facilities in Antwerp that produce hydrogen, ammonia and ethylene oxide.

Captured CO2 will be transported for permanent storage beneath the North Sea as part of an integrated, cross-border carbon capture and storage value chain, the EU executive said.

The project is expected to avoid about 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over 15 years and enable the companies to get a low-carbon label on hydrogen and ammonia production.

The aid, financed by the government of Flanders, will take the form of direct investment grants of EUR 30 million for each beneficiary, alongside additional support of EUR 10 million per year for each company over ten years, subject to the achievement of minimum emission reductions.

Kairos@C previously received more than EUR 365 million in funding from the EU Innovation Fund following the programme’s first large-scale call in 2020, but rising costs linked to inflation meant additional public support was required for the project to proceed.

The Commission said the measure complies with EU state aid rules and would support the decarbonisation of industrial processes while limiting distortions to competition.