Yara to store CO2 under Norwegian sea

Fertilizer producer Yara will use part of its CO . from 2025₂storing emissions in the Norwegian seabed. Every year, 800,000 tons, a quarter of the annual emissions of the Zeeland company, are liquefied, transported and stored in the soil by Northern Lights. Both companies spoke on Monday during the announcement of the first commercial cross-border contract on CO₂storage.

Northern Lights, which was founded by Norwegian Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, will store the greenhouse gas 2,600 meters below the seabed off the Norwegian west coast at Øygarden. The plans are part of the so-called Longship Project, which is 80 percent financed by the Norwegian government. In the initial phase, up to 1.5 million tons of CO . will be produced there annually₂ stored.

„Without underground storage of CO₂ the climate targets for 2030 and beyond are almost impossible to achieve,” said director-general Sandor Gaastra of the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate at the press conference in Stavanger, Norway, where the deal with Yara was announced on Monday.

However, this so-called CCS approach (carbon capture and storage) not undisputed. In the elaboration of the Dutch climate agreement, environmental organizations are trying to limit the use of CCS because they believe that storage limits the actual transition of the industry. In addition, other projects would also receive less subsidy as a result.

This spring, Climate Minister Rob Jetten (D66) decided to expand the subsidy options for CCS nevertheless, because this method can limit emissions “in the relatively short term and cost-effectively”. Many places are now working on the storage of CO₂. The Porthos project in Rotterdam aims to store greenhouse gas from industrial companies from the port under the seabed from 2024. This has to be done 20 kilometers from the coast in empty gas fields in the North Sea.

Fertilizer producer Yara is one of the largest CO₂emitters from the Netherlands. The company, active in sixty countries, decided last week to stop a substantial part of its production in Sluiskil as a result of the high gas price. (NRC)