BRUSSELS, April 20 (Reuters) – The European Union and Norway goal to work collectively to develop infrastructure to seize and retailer CO2 emissions and scale up renewable hydrogen manufacturing in Europe, in response to a draft “alliance” plan.
The plan is about to be introduced at a summit of European nation leaders and power ministers in Ostend, Belgium, on Monday, which is able to deal with making the North Sea an engine of offshore renewable power and clear industrial applied sciences.
A draft, seen by Reuters, stated the 27-country EU and Norway plan to develop European market guidelines and infrastructure to seize, transport, use and retailer CO2 emissions.
“Each side intend to work collectively to carry this key expertise to markets to foster the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial sectors,” the draft stated.
It signalled the same intent to workforce up on hydrogen produced from renewable power – one other inexperienced expertise the EU is betting on to decarbonise heavy industries like metal and cement making.
“Each side intend to accentuate their cooperation to foster renewable hydrogen manufacturing in Europe,” the doc stated.
Efforts to seize CO2 emissions from business and retailer them underground within the North Sea have gathered tempo in recent times as nations race to satisfy local weather targets, with Norwegian corporations behind among the most important tasks.
Norway’s state-owned Equinor has been capturing and storing CO2 emissions from the Sleipner gasoline discipline for the reason that Nineties. Its upcoming tasks embody Northern Lights, a three way partnership to seize CO2 emissions from industrial amenities and inject as much as 1.5 million tonnes per yr of CO2 into undersea storage close to the Troll gasoline discipline from subsequent yr.
The draft assertion, which might nonetheless change earlier than it’s adopted, stated Norway and the EU would additionally intensify their cooperation to guard the Arctic.
It didn’t point out deliberate cooperation between the 2 sides on fossil fuels. Norway piped 117 billion cubic metres of gasoline to the EU and Britain in 2022, making it Europe’s largest gasoline provider after Russia slashed deliveries final yr.
Reporting by Kate Abnett;Enhancing by Elaine Hardcastle
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