Speech by Minister of the Environment Knut Arild Hareide, Oslo, 26 April 2005

The future role for carbon capture and storage in a climate perspective

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our civilisation can be traced back about ten thousand years. In these ten thousand years, earth's climate has been quite stable. Today we are endangering this stability.

Climate change is today's most serious environmental challenge. The scientific community agrees that man-made climate change is real. We know that it may have dramatic effects on our future global climate. At the same time, climate change is already taking place today.

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) recently gave us new evidence that climate change is taking place at an alarming rate in the Arctic. This will have effects on the global climate. Ambitious mitigation efforts are urgently needed.

The importance of carbon capture and storage

Climate change is a global problem. The consequences affect us all regardless of where the emissions take place. Still, climate change affects countries and regions in different ways.

The poorest countries with least resources to adapt are likely to face the most dramatic consequences. In this century, more than one hundred thousand people in developing countries might become "climate refugees" as a result of sea level rise. Many regions will experience more "extreme weather". Desertification will continue. Climate-related diseases will become more common.

The industrialised countries have the main responsibility for causing climate change. The developing countries pay the highest price when it comes to its effects. This also makes climate change a matter of solidarity and shared responsibilities.

Climate change calls for global solutions. No country or region can meet the challenge alone. It can only be solved through broad international co-operation. The Kyoto Protocol is an important first step. But it is not enough. Far more ambitious climate regimes are needed.

We need international agreements to reduce future global emissions. We also need international cooperation to develop low carbon technologies for the future.

We have to work simultaneously on many fronts to reduce CO ₂ emissions related to energy production. We must improve energy efficiency and increase the share of renewables.

At the same time, we must recognise that fossil fuels will dominate the world’s power generation for years to come. A sustainable energy policy must therefore also include options to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil energy production and use.

Carbon capture and storage is one such option – and it is an increasingly promising one. This option has the potential to be an important mitigating measure. It can contribute to reduced emissions from large point sources. It can help bring about significant cuts in global emissions.

CO ₂ capture and storage may also be combined with the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels and thus be a key element of environmentally sound energy strategies for the future.

Opportunities for Norway

Several factors indicate that Norway should pay particular interest to the opportunities related to carbon capture and storage:

Firstly, Norway has valuable experience with geological storage of CO ₂. Since 1996, about 1 million tonnes of CO ₂ have been stored annually from the offshore gas field Sleipner West. This single project equals two per cent of our national emissions of greenhouse gases. Even on a global scale, this represents a unique project on aquifer CO ₂ storage and the sole ongoing geological storage experience of that time scale.

Secondly, there are unique possibilities to use CO ₂ for enhanced oil recovery on the Norwegian continental shelf. As pointed out by IEA and others, injection of CO ₂ to enhance recovery of fossil fuels could become a key storage opportunity, as it might generate revenues that offset parts of CO ₂ capture and transportation costs. By using CO ₂ for enhanced oil recovery, not only the future carbon price, but also the price on oil and gas, will determine the economics of carbon capture and storage projects.

A third and related point, is that vast amounts of CO ₂ can potentially be stored on the continental shelf. Studies have indicated that all the CO ₂ emissions from Europe over the next 200 years could be injected and stored in oil wells and aquifers in the North Sea. Even though this is unlikely to be the case, it illustrates an important point: Norway might become a recipient of CO ₂ from other countries around the North Sea. To explore the possibilities for such a co-operation, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has taken an initiative towards the North Sea countries and the European Union. We hope to intensify this co-operation in the years to come.

And finally, by being at the forefront of the technological development, both industry and research communities might find new and interesting business opportunities. In 2004 the Norwegian Government established a national fund of approximately 240 million euros to stimulate the development of technologies for CO ₂ capture and storage related to the use of natural gas. Combined with other measures, this fund will enable Norwegian actors to reinforce the development and possible use of carbon capture and storage technologies.

I believe all these elements will be elaborated and discussed during this seminar, and I am looking forward to hear your views on these issues.

Conditions for CO ₂ storage

As you understand, I am optimistic with regard to carbon capture and storage as key elements of a future climate strategy. Still there are some aspects that will have to be considered in a broader environmental context.

Most importantly, we have to take all possible precautions to make sure that the marine environment is not adversely affected. On this, as on all other environmental issues, the precautionary principle should be our guiding principle.

We have to be confident that the method of storage is safe and that the risk of leakage is minimal. But we should bear in mind that the CO ₂ is likely to be stored in geological structures that have contained oil and gas securely for millions of years. We also have to take into account that the alarming effects of climate change are clearly starting to show. With that knowledge in mind, we have to decide what is the best solution for the environment as a whole.

Concluding remarks

By utilising the existing advantages, Norway has – in co-operation with others – a unique possibility to develop and promote technologies that might have effects far beyond our borders. As a small country, our national efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases will have minimal impacts on the global climate. By taking an active role in developing technologies for carbon capture and storage, we might, however, be able to promote solutions applicable also to other countries and regions. Hopefully, this could help make a much needed difference - even in a global perspective.

Thank you for your attention and good luck with this seminar!