Enova aims to help companies that want to capture large amounts of CO2 to get closer to an investment decision for capture plants, with the goal of operation by 2030. Climeworks is one of nine projects awarded, whose combined targeted capture capacity totals 1.7m tons of CO2 per year. This corresponds to almost half of all emissions from passenger cars in Norway.
Nils Kristian Nakstad, CEO of Enova, said of the funding allocation, “We are pleased to be able to support Climeworks’ work in the development of industrial carbon removal projects. This technology will play a decisive role in the transition to a low-emission society, and this project is an important step in the right direction”.
Ideal conditions for large-scale DAC+S
A clean energy source and safe, permanent storage options are what Climeworks requires for large-scale CDR via DAC technology and Norway offers the ideal conditions for both. Norway has significant availability of renewable energy, with 98% of electricity produced from renewable sources, such as hydro. With regard to storage, Norway is a global leader in the development and availability of geological CO2 storage. Coupled with this, the storage potential is vast; many gigatons of CO2 could be stored in the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
This funding for a feasibility study in Norway marks the first step in validating the country’s potential for scalable and high-quality DAC+S deployment that could position Norway as one of the Nordic pioneers in the global carbon removal efforts crucial to fighting climate change.
Andreas Aepli, Chief Financial Officer at Climeworks, commented, “We are thrilled and honored to have been awarded funding from Enova for a feasibility study in Norway for our project Norse Pine. This will undoubtedly accelerate direct air capture as a climate solution, both in the Nordics and globally – something we are truly grateful to Enova for enabling.”
Importance of DAC in Norwegian climate strategy
The Norwegian government has long been investigating how it can best support industrial carbon removal in its journey to multi-megaton scale and contribute to the country’s national climate targets. This dedicated funding allocation for DAC is an important signal from Enova and the Norwegian government on the importance of DAC in the Norwegian climate strategy and its contribution to the industrial shift towards a thriving green industry.
Parallel to this funding allocation, an external investigation commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency has assessed several economic support mechanisms (such as reverse auctions, reverse tax credits, public procurement, and direct investments). Climeworks welcomes this important political momentum on the climate and industrial opportunity of large-scale CDR in Norway. Public policy is critical to enabling the drastic scale-up of CDR solutions that the world needs.