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Five Northern European Countries Strengthen Cooperation on Cross-border CO2 Transport and Storage
25th April 2024
Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden have signed separate Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) with Norway to facilitate the cross-border transport of CO2 for the purpose of permanent geological storage. A similar arrangement enhancing cooperation in the field of CO2 transport and storage across borders was also established in parallel between Sweden and Denmark.
These arrangements were concluded on 15 April, in the framework of the EU’s informal meeting of Energy ministers, which took place in Brussels on 15-16 April 2024.
The MoUs represent a crucial step towards the establishment of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure across Europe and a collective effort to lay the foundation for the creation of a CO2 market in the region.
As a result of this move, five northern European countries reaffirmed the crucial role CCS is expected to play in meeting their emissions reduction targets and climate commitments during the transition towards a carbon neutral economy.
The arrangements aim to remove current barriers to the deployment of CCS and build on a series of previous agreements, declarations and memoranda already concluded in the last years across Europe to enable the storage of CO2 from exporting countries in the North Sea.
The signatories of the MoUs are also among those countries which have deposited an instrument of acceptance of the 2009 amendment to article 6 of the London Protocol, and declarations of its provisional application. The latter enables the transboundary transportation of CO2 for geological storage provided that the protection standards prescribed by the Protocol are met.
With the emergence of new markets and commercial opportunities for CCS beyond national boundaries, these additional MoUs contribute to setting the necessary conditions to enable cross-border cooperation and further drive the development of CCS in the region.