Milestone for cooperation on CCS in Europe
Historical archive
Published under: Solberg's Government
Publisher: Ministry of Petroleum and Energy
News story | Date: 05/09/2019
Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, European Commission and Gassnova gathered central actors from politics and industry to the high level conference on CCS in Oslo on September 5th.
During the fourth energy conference between the EU and Norway in Brussels in February, EU Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete took the initiative to a high level conference on CO2 Capture & Storage (CCS) with Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Kjell-Børge Freiberg.
The day was introduced with a high level meeting at the Prime Minister's Residence with important decision makers from politics and industry present, before the tour went to the Norwegian Opera House for the conference on CCS.
— I am convinced that increased cooperation is the key to make CCS an efficient climate change mitigation tool in both Europe and on a global level. Therefore I am happy to see that a more significant number of actors now see CCS as part of the solution to cut the emissions to go through with the ambitions in the Paris Agreement. This conference has been a milestone for cooperation on CCS, says Minister of Petroleum and Energy in Norway, Kjell-Børge Freiberg.
Several politicians and actors from the industry and organizations participated in panel discussions and held speeches, among them Minister of Climate and Environment Ola Elvestuen and the general secretary of UNFCCC, Patricia Espinosa.
MoUs between Equinor on behalf of all partners in the Northern Lights project and different European industry companies was also signed at the conference.
EU Commissioner visited CO2 capture project
EU Commissioner Arias Cañete and minister Freiberg also visited the Fortum Oslo Varme CO2 capture site project at Klemetsrud in Oslo – one of two actors who are in the final stage of studying capture of CO2. The commissioner and the minister was given a tour of the facility, including a small CO2-capture test pilot.
The Norwegian Government wants to contribute to a cost effective technology for CO2 capture, transport and storage if it provides technology development in an international perspective. The European Union has defined CCS as one of seven technological tools to reach the goal on climate neutrality in Europe in 2050.