Norway and France will strengthen cooperation on CCS
Press release | Date: 19/12/2022 | Ministry of Energy
Norway and France has signed a Letter of Intent to promote mutually beneficial cooperation on the development and deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). This confirms the governments’ intentions to cooperate on CCS and recognize the importance of cross-border cooperation.
— Widespread CCS at the lowest possible cost will be necessary to achieve the goals we have committed to in the Paris Agreement. Cross-border cooperation is key, and CCS is an important priority for the Norwegian Government. This Letter of Intent confirms Norway and France mutual interest to work closer on cross-border transportation and storage of CO2. Norway will facilitate the development of CO2 storage on our continental shelf for industrial companies, French companies included, says Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland.
The Governments of Norway and France recognize the role of CCS in to meet long term climate targets under the Paris Agreement and that CCS technology will enable reduced greenhouse gas emissions, especially in hard-to-abate industrial sectors.
The objective of the Letter of Intent is to promote the development of CCS by creating a framework for cooperation between the two countries to facilitate their sharing of technical knowledge, advice, skills and expertise in the field of CCS.
As part of the cooperation, the two Governments will consider and prepare a bilateral agreement to enable cross-border transportation and storage of CO2.
Background
Both Norway and France are strongly committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement and have ambitious policies in place to fulfil their respective climate targets. According to reports from both the IEA and the IPCC, CCS is a vital part of the solution to combat climate change.
CCS technologies may help reduce emissions in hard-to-abate sectors and contribute to meeting the high ambitions in relation to the green transition and to achieve net zero emissions.
Norway has more than 26 years of experience with safe storage of CO2 under the seabed with the CCS projects Snøhvit and Sleipner. The safety of storage is confirmed by monitoring programs and reservoir simulations that new projects can benefit from. The Norwegian full-scale CCS-project, Longship, is paving the way for CCS as a crucial tool to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors. Northern Lights is now building the transport and storage infrastructure in Longship with excess capacity to enable storage of CO2 volumes from other European projects. More storage projects in Norway are underway.