Finland and Norway have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that enables the transport of CO2 from Finland, whose soil is unsuitable for permanent CO2 storage, to Norway for geological storage under the seabed.
The MoU was signed on September 4 by the Finnish Minister of Climate and the Environment Sari Multala and the Norwegian State Secretary Astrid Bergmål during the informal meeting between energy ministers in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“Norway is committed to developing safe CO2 storage solutions to our European partners. This MoU with Finland strengthens our shared efforts to reach climate goals and supports the development of a commercial market for CO2 storage,” said Bergmål .
The MoU is said to complement existing international agreements that create the legal framework for cross-border transport of CO2 for permanent storage.
“Promoting solutions for CO2 capture is one of the key themes of the Government’s climate policy. The Memorandum of Understanding with Norway is an important step for Finland towards the large-scale implementation of carbon capture and cross-border storage solutions,” said Minister Multala .
Of note, the world’s first third-party CO2 transport and storage facility, located in Norway, started operating last month after Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies injected and stored the first CO2 volumes at the Northern Lights CO2 project in the Norwegian North Sea.
The CO2 volumes were transported by vessel from Heidelberg Materials’ cement factory in Brevik, Norway, to Northern Lights ’ facilities in Øygarden, then injected and stored in the Aurora reservoir 2,600 meters under the North Sea seabed.