Norway today officially launched its flagship carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, dubbed “Longship,” a technology widely recognized as crucial for mitigating climate change but one that has historically struggled to establish a viable economic model.
Named after the Vikings’ traditional wooden ships, the Longship project is designed to capture carbon dioxide emissions initially from a cement plant and, later, from an incineration plant. The captured CO2 will then be transported by ship to a terminal on Norway’s west coast, from where it will be injected beneath the seabed for permanent storage.
The project has received substantial financial backing from the Norwegian state, which will contribute 22 billion kroner ($2.2 billion), covering a significant portion of the estimated total cost of 34 billion kroner for the installation and operation over its first decade. Norway has positioned Longship as the “world’s first full-scale value chain” for carbon capture and storage, targeting one of the primary greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.
Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland hailed the launch, stating, “This is not just an important moment for Norway, it is a breakthrough for carbon capture and storage in Europe.”
The capture component of the project will be officially inaugurated on Wednesday at a cement plant operated by Germany’s Heidelberg Materials in Brevik, southeastern Norway. This facility is projected to prevent 400,000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere annually. An additional part of the project, the Hafslund Celsio waste incineration plant near Oslo, is expected to capture another 350,000 tonnes of CO2 per year beginning in 2029.
The liquefied carbon dioxide will be transported by ship to the Oygarden terminal near Bergen. From there, it will be injected into a pipeline for storage 110 kilometers (68 miles) offshore in a saline aquifer located 2.6 kilometers below the seabed. This terminal has been operational since last year as part of the Northern Lights project, a joint venture led by oil giants Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, which asserts itself as “the world’s first commercial CO2 transport and storage service.”
In a related development on Tuesday, the Swiss government, known as the Federal Council, announced the signing of an agreement with Norway concerning “carbon storage.” Swiss Environment Minister Albert Rosti, who recently visited the Northern Lights project, emphasized in a council statement that “carbon storage will be crucial for Switzerland on its path to net zero.” The agreement, the council added, “will allow Swiss CO2 to be stored in Norway and also enable both countries to trade negative emissions in a state-recognised framework.”
CCS technology is cited by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a vital method for reducing the carbon footprint of industries that are difficult to decarbonize. However, the technology remains complex and expensive. Without financial assistance, it is currently more economically advantageous for industries to purchase “pollution permits” on the European carbon market rather than bear the costs of capturing, transporting, and storing their CO2.
Globally, the total carbon capture capacity currently stands at approximately 50 million tonnes, which the International Energy Agency notes is equivalent to only 0.1 percent of annual global emissions.
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