CCUS takes center stage in Norway’s new national innovation hub

Norway has launched a brand-new, national innovation cluster surrounding carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), which brings together a number of the country’s ‘prominent’ players from this field.

Dubbed the CCUS Innovation, the cluster was reportedly set up via the Norwegian Innovation Clusters (NIC) program, a government-backed initiative run jointly by Innovation Norway, state enterprise SIVA (also known as the Industrial Corporation of Norway), and the Research Council of Norway.

As disclosed, the endeavor will aim to ‘bolster’ Norwegian industry (maritime included) through innovation-driven collaboration, tackling challenges related to long-term growth, sustainability and competitiveness on a global scale.

Participating members of CCUS Innovation are CCUS Norway, which is managed by Carbon Limits (a consultancy specializing in climate strategies and emission reduction solutions), and CCS Innovation, managed by SINTEF (hailed as one of Europe’s largest independent research organizations that conducts carbon capture, utilization and storage studies).

The cluster is said to further unite 69 members from a range of sectors, such as research institutes, finance, industry, technology suppliers, legal and advisory services as well as test sites.

As informed, among the members is Hafslund Celsio, Norway’s largest supplier of district heating and a first mover in industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and delivery to the Northern Lights storage network.

Through joint projects, technology matchmaking and industrial cooperation, the initiative partners explained that CCUS Innovation is envisioned to act as a ‘gateway’ for international engagement with Norway’s CCUS ecosystem.

The two previous clusters would cooperate under the cluster to serve as a one-stop contact point for Norwegian actors from this landscape, including early-stage technology development and large-scale deployment.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage has been deeply rooted in Norway’s approach toward sustainability, with a set of developments taking place this year, such as the official launch of Northern Lights—the ‘world’s first’ commercial CO2 transport and storage project. The inaugural injection of carbon dioxide at the facility took place in August 2025.

In terms of the maritime industry, specifically, the Oslo-based classification society DNV highlighted in a recent report that the industry needed a ‘standardized’ verification process that could facilitate both regulatory compliance and investor confidence, two ‘key’ factors for a broader application of CCUS solutions on the path to net zero.

To be precise, in a June 2025 report, DNV shared that carbon capture and storage, in particular, could grow fourfold by 2030. Cumulative investments were also estimated to spike, with the potential to reach a value of $80 billion by the end of the decade.

It is worth noting that in June, DNV also released a new service specification that targets verifying and certifying carbon capture, utilization and storage sites to help “de-risk” such projects. Per the organization, the specification covers CO2 capture and dehydration systems, compression and liquefaction units, emergency shutdown and relief, safety assessments and hurdles, material selection, as well as injection sites, among other subsystems.