Informal video conference of Energy Ministers

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A very good morning to you all from Oslo. On behalf of the Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Ms. Tina Bru, I would like to thank you very much for hosting this event, and for inviting Norway to speak.

Norway fully supports the European Commission’s vision for a European Green Deal, and we want to contribute to its implementation. We support the energy transition in the EU in meeting the challenges ahead.

Our government has set ambitious national targets for cutting climate gas emissions, and as you know we have a climate action cooperation with the EU together with Iceland, another EEA country. I would like to underscore that we support a consistently high price of emissions as the most efficient tool to cut emissions. That is why we believe the ETS should be the main vehicle and an expanded and tightened ETS should be explored.

Now, please allow me to just very briefly give you some updates on two recent policy decisions our government.

In June we put forward a national hydrogen strategy that sets the course for the government's efforts to stimulate development of hydrogen-related technologies. We believe that hydrogen can contribute to reduction of greenhouse gases and create value for the Norwegian business sector.

We will therefore prioritise efforts in areas where Norway, Norwegian enterprises and technology clusters may influence the development of hydrogen related technologies, and where there are opportunities for increased value creation and green growth. We will continue to support research and innovation, pilot- and demonstration projects to lower costs and enable commercialisation of hydrogen technologies.

We welcome the European Commission’s Hydrogen Strategy and the recent EU Communication on the 2030 Climate Target Plan. There is a need for development and deployment in the coming decade of i.e. hydrogen technologies and technologies for carbon capture, utilisation and storage. 

Only two weeks ago we launched "Longship" – the largest climate technology project in Norwegian industry, ever. Longship is the name we have chosen for the Norwegian CCS project that will demonstrate the full chain of carbon capture, transportation and storage.

Included in the project is a carbon capture facility at Norcem’s cement factory in Telemark. Additionally, we propose conditional funding for a waste incineration facility in Oslo, providing that the project secures sufficient own funding as well as funding from the EU or other sources. Longship also comprises funding for the transport and storage project Northern Lights, a joint project between Equinor, Shell and Total.

Northern Lights will transport liquid CO2 from capture facilities to a terminal at Øygarden on the west coast. From there, CO2 will be pumped through pipelines to a reservoir beneath the sea bottom.

Total investments and operating costs are estimated at around 2.5 billion Euros for the entire project. The government proposes to fund around 1.7 billion of this. We believe Longship is an effective means for Norway to contribute to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions in the long term at the lowest possible cost.

However, let me underscore in the clearest of terms that if carbon capture and storage is to become an efficient climate policy instrument, subsequent facilities must be established in Europe and globally. It is important to start now.

I hope you found this brief introduction from us interesting and I look forward to a continued dialogue with all of you. Thank you for your attention!