World’s first CO2 storage service close to opening in Norway
Norway is nearing the opening of the world’s first commercial service offering CO2 transport and storage. The Northern Lights project aims to capture emissions from factory smokestacks in Europe and store them in geological reservoirs under the seabed to prevent further release into the atmosphere and combat climate change.
A terminal on the island of Oygarden, Norway, was recently inaugurated as a crucial step towards the project. With a joint venture involving major oil companies Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, the facility is set to start burying CO2 deliveries in 2025 with an initial capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year.
Despite the high costs of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, the project has received significant government support to advance. Several undersea storage projects are also under development in Europe, signaling a growing effort to address the climate crisis.
While some critics raise concerns about the technology and its associations with oil companies, proponents emphasize the urgency of implementing scalable solutions to combat emissions and meet climate challenges to secure a sustainable future.