Accelerating CCUS deployment through new business models - COP28

Ladies and gentlemen,

I welcome the new IEA Report on CCUS Policies and Business Models.

There is an urgent need to scale up CCS to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries and fulfil our commitments under the Paris Agreement.

We need to develop the necessary infrastructure and drive down costs.

Norway has 27 years of experience with safe storage of CO2 under the seabed.

Norway also has the world’s largest and most flexible test facility for CO2 capture technology, Technology Center Mongstad. It has been instrumental in improving capture technology. It has been in operation since 2012 with strong support from the government.

IEA’s new CCUS Report shows that momentum on CCUS has increased in recent years, but the deployment of projects has remained relatively flat.

There is indeed a momentum for CCS right now, and promising and rapid development in many regions of the world, especially in Europe, the US and Asia. This moves the industry forwards.

The choices and investments we make today, will have great consequences for generations to come. We are therefore very proud that one of the largest climate projects in Norwegian history is a CCS project.

Longship will demonstrate that CCS is possible and safe throughout the whole value chain. It will become a catalyst for further deployment of CCS both nationally and internationally. Longship is developed on the shoulders of a commitment across several Norwegian governments to develop CCS.

CCS can be an efficient climate solution for reducing emissions, especially in hard-to-abate industries. The Northern Lights transportation and storage project has estimated an efficiency of 97% for the whole life cycle of the project, from construction to decommissioning.

Longship is a full-scale carbon capture and storage project that will demonstrate the capture of CO2 from industrial sources, as well as transport and safe storage of CO2. Ships for transport are being built, wells for storage are drilled, the capture facility in Heidelberg cement plant in Brevik is being raised. The first two commercial agreements have been officially signed, and we are in dialogue with relevant countries on matters related to import/export of CO2, for permanent storage on the Norwegian continental shelf.

 

We are on track for startup in early 2025.

Longship has been important to scale the entire value chain in one go – and avoiding the chicken and egg problem that is well-known for CCUS deployment.

As also stated in the Report; emerging business models are opening the door to new investment opportunities, and with that bringing new challenges to be overcome.

We see a lot of interest from companies in developing storage projects on our continental shelf. We are awarding new exploration licenses for CO₂ storage continuously. Following the exploitation license awarded to Northern Lights in 2019, we have awarded 6 new exploration permits to different companies.

Norway is ready to take on a role as a CO₂ storage hub in North West Europe, and the Norwegian continental shelf is well suited for safe and secure storage operations. If all the projects with exploration licenses develop their projects according to their high ambitions, Norway will have capacity to store more than 40 million tons annually from 2030.

Norway participates in the Carbon Management Challenge. This is an important initiative to raise ambition and advancing carbon management by 2030.

Norway’s contribution to the global goal is the Sleipner, Snøhvit and Longship projects. We will continue to develop storages and if these meet their full potential, we will add several million tons to our annually stored volumes of CO2.

We are now assessing the policy toolsets for CCS for the industry and the waste sector in Norway.

We know that the lack of incentives for carbon removals are a barrier for CCS projects. We are therefore also looking into incentives for industrial carbon removals in Norway.

We need to create the conditions necessary to drive long-term investment, enable industry to take investment decisions and push CCUS into a sustainable commercial market.

For that we need successful business models. We also need more countries and companies to invest in and develop CCS solutions for it to become an effective climate tool.

Again, I welcome the new Report by the IEA and look forward to collaborate further on these important solutions.

Thank you for your attention!