Danish sea has the world’s first cross-border CO2 graveyard

Making meaningful progress in climate change efforts is unthinkable without removing massive amounts of that gas from the atmosphere

Yesterday, 7 March, saw the official inauguration of Project Greensand – a Danish CCS (carbon capture and storage site) located under the North Sea. The facility has been described as the first cross-border one of its kind, since it will accept imported CO2 from other countries, such as Belgium.

The CO2 graveyard, where the carbon is injected to prevent further warming of the atmosphere, is on the site of an old oil field. It is located 1,800 metres under the seabed.

Led by INEOS Energy and Wintershall Dea, it aims to inject initially up to 1.5 million tonnes per year (tpa) of CO2 from 2025-2026, increasing capacity to 8 million tpa by 2030.

Is CCS the accelerator solution to decarbonization?

Long considered a complicated solution with marginal use, carbon capture has been embraced as necessary by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The energy-intensive process to capture and store the CO2 itself emits the equivalent of 21% of the gas captured, according to the Australian think tank IEEFA. And the technology is not without risks, according to the think tank, which says potential leaks could have severe consequences.

Yet, officials, among whom was EU Commission President Ursula von der sending a video address, drummed up an optimistic note about the technology.

Brian Gilvary, from INEOS Energy, was quoted by Euractiv, saying that the energy transition will require carbon capture and storage “as a bedrock” to reach the world’s climate goals. “It is impossible for industry or for the planet to get [to net zero by 2050] without carbon capture. So, it’s absolutely part and parcel of what we do going forward,” he said.

According to European Commission estimates, the EU will need to store at least 300 million tonnes of CO2 every year by 2050 to reach its net-zero climate objective. Thus, making carbon storage an indispensable tool in the collective effort towards a greener future.

Under the EU’s Innovation Fund, 24 industrial decarbonisation projects have already been awarded 2.8 billion euros.