At the Riviera CO2 Shipping & Terminals Conference 2024, Baris Dolek, representing the Northern Lights project, delivered a compelling speech outlining the progress, challenges and future prospects of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
His presentation underscored the urgent need for CCS in combating climate change, while acknowledging the significant hurdles that must be overcome to make it economically viable.
Mr Dolek began by illustrating the alarming increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the decades. "In 1969, the CO2 concentration was 324 ppm," he stated. "By the time the Berlin Wall fell, it had risen to 353 ppm, and by 2016 it reached 432 ppm. Today, we are at approximately 424 ppm."
This stark rise in CO2 levels, he explained, has been accompanied by increasingly severe climate events, such as extensive wildfires and devastating floods, emphasising the urgent need for effective emissions-reduction strategies.
Highlighting the critical role of CCS, Mr Dolek noted it could account for 8% of the required emissions reductions according to the International Energy Agency, "CCS is vital for decarbonising hard-to-abate industries, enabling large-scale CO2 collection and storage, which supports the infrastructure necessary for achieving climate targets," he said.
In Europe, significant momentum is building for CCS, driven by policies like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which aims to prevent carbon leakage by imposing costs on imported goods from countries with less stringent emissions regulations.
The Northern Lights project in Norway is a pioneering effort in this field, and is designed to receive CO2 from industrial emitters, store it temporarily onshore, and then pump it offshore into a subsea storage site.
The Longship Project will serve Norcem, which is the sole producer of cement in Norway, with plants in Brevik and Kjøpsvik.
"Our first two customers, Norcem and Yara, are significant industrial emitters in Norway," Mr Dolek explained. "We are on schedule and within budget, with our first two CCS ships already launched and operational by the second half of this year."
Despite this progress, Mr Dolek did not shy away from discussing the financial and logistical challenges facing CCS, "CCS is still not in money," he remarked, underscoring the technology’s economic hurdles.
He explained high initial costs for infrastructure and technology make CCS financially unviable without substantial investment and regulatory support. Furthermore, the lack of standardised contracts and varying regulatory frameworks across different regions complicates the implementation process.
To meet the ambitious EU targets for greenhouse gas reduction – aiming for a 55% reduction by 2030 and achieving climate neutrality by 2050 – Europe needs to significantly increase its CCS capacity.
source: Riviera News
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