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European energy policy has made an effort in the last years in developing a coherent strategy towards the definition of a set of goals, involving the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, increasing renewable energy use. This paper presents the different options of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies regarding the legislative initiatives implemented in the new European energy policy. This new European energy strategy was established taking into consideration not only energy demand but also social and environmental requirements. Taking that into account, the different strategies adopted by the European energy council are discussed and an overview of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies—a mitigation strategy able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—and the CO2 potential utilization were also addressed. Conventional and unconventional CO2 geological storage/sequestration reservoirs are analysed, taking into consideration the different properties of both types of reservoirs. Finally, it is possible to conclude that coal seams must play a major role in CCS/CCUS technologies, since coal is considered as an efficient technological solution to CO2 geological storage/sequestration. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.