UK–Norway Green Partnership to Advance Carbon Capture Amid Concerns Over Risks and Costs
Labour has committed £21.7 billion in funding for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage, as well as the hydrogen sector over 25 years.
Britain has announced a new industrial partnership with Norway that aims to accelerate the green energy transition and carbon capture and storage projects.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Store, launched the initiative on Monday, as they met in Bergen, Norway to discuss ties between the two nations.
The partnership, unveiled during the UK–Norway Green Energy Conference in March, focuses on advancing key green energy technologies, including carbon capture and storage, offshore wind energy, and hydrogen production.
Downing Street said the deal between UK and Norway will be signed in spring next year. It is part of Labour’s Plan for Change, a strategy that aims to secure home-grown energy, protect bill payers, and accelerate the UK’s progress towards net-zero emissions.
“My government will deliver our Plan for Change, reigniting industrial heartlands and putting more money in working people’s pockets,” he said.
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Norway, which has a border with Russia, is seen as a strategic partner in energy security. Commenting on the deal, Starmer said it will ensure Britain is “never again exposed to international energy price spikes and the whims of dictators like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”
Carbon Capture
Carbon capture and storage refers to a technology designed to capture carbon dioxide emissions to prevent them from entering the atmosphere.
Once captured, CO2 is compressed into a liquid-like state and transported to storage sites, where it is injected into deep geological formations, such as depleted oil and gas fields, saline aquifers, or basalt formations, where it is securely stored for long periods.
Alternatively, CO2 can be utilized in products like building materials or for enhanced oil recovery.
Speaking to reporters on the trip to Norway on Monday, Starmer said, “Carbon capture has a potential for decades and decades of work, and we’re probably two of the best placed countries in the world in relation to this cutting edge technology, this approach.”
The deal comes days after the government signed the first carbon capture usage and storage contracts in the UK.
The project, called the Northern Endurance Partnership and Net Zero Teesside, between BP and Norwegian company Equinor, is expected to provide up to a million homes with clean power from 2028.
Floating offshore windfarm Green Volt, based off the northeast coast of Scotland, is a joint venture between Norwegian Vargronn and UK firm Flotation Energy. It has awarded front-end engineering and design contracts to progress the deal between UK and Norway.
The two countries have also committed to develop the North Sea as a hub for carbon storage and develop a bilateral deal on cross-border transport of CO2.
Risks and Costs
Challenges of carbon capture include high costs and significant energy resources, which potentially reduces the overall power plant efficiency. Concerns raised by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) highlighted the “complex and risky” nature of the process.
Commenting on projects like that between BP and Equinor, the IEEFA has said they will “do little” to advance green economic growth.
“It will make the UK more reliant on fossil gas imports, at a time of increasing global instability, and sends the wrong signal internationally about the need to stop expanding fossil fuel infrastructure,” the IEEFA said in October.
The think tank also addressed risks associated with carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) and storage of CO2. It suggested that CCUS cannot remove 100 percent of on-site emissions, with projects achieving not more than 80 percent carbon capture.
Storage of CO2 under the seabed is far from “safe” and requires regular monitoring to prevent leakages, the IEEFA added.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the money will “pave the way for securing the clean energy revolution,” while Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the technology will bring 4,000 good jobs and billions of pounds in private investment into communities across Merseyside and Teesside.
Mark Maslin at University College London has suggested that government plans to invest in carbon capture are risky and will lock the UK into fossil fuel dependence for decades to come.
“Even if the technology worked perfectly, it still locks the UK into a reliance on natural gas (which is basically methane, a potent greenhouse gas) for generations to come. This will result in the UK being reliant on imported natural gas past 2050, which has significant upstream emissions from methane leaks, transport and processing,” Maslin said.
During his visit to Norway, Starmer is expected to visit a cross-border carbon transport and storage facility to review the benefits of the technology.
PA Media contributed to this report.
