The Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME) research centre on CCS, gigaCCS, officially launched at its kick-off meeting at the Clarion Hotel in Trondheim. Over 90 participants from the Centre’s 39 founding industry and research partners, along with representatives from the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Government, attended the event. The gathering set the stage for the partnership over the next eight years, focusing on scaling up CCS to the gigatonne level.
Norway’s Minister of Energy, Terje Aasland, underscored the importance of the new research centre and SINTEF’s role in his video address.
“I’m excited to see SINTEF taking on the next big challenge, growing CCS capacity from millions to billions of tonnes,” said Aasland. “CCS is not new to Norway. We have over 40 years of experience in developing and testing this technology. SINTEF has played a key role in this from the very start. Strong partnerships like gigaCCS are crucial if we are to fight climate change.”
gigaCCS marks the latest chapter in SINTEF’s pioneering 40-year journey in CCS. Hosted by SINTEF Energy Research, the Centre will operate for eight years, following in the footsteps of its FME predecessors, NCCS (2016–2024) and BIGCCS (2008–2016), which were also directed by SINTEF.
gigaCCS Director and Research Director at SINTEF Energy Research, Mona Mølnvik, emphasised during the opening event that CCS research is more important than ever—a fact reflected in the size and breadth of gigaCCS' industry and research partners. CCS at a gigatonne scale crucial for achieving national and global emission reduction goals. The vision of gigaCCS is therefore clear: to support the accelerated deployment of CCS at gigatonne scale for net-zero emissions by 2050.
Mølnvik closed the kick-off meeting with a powerful message: “In eight years, when the Centre concludes, we want to celebrate a success—not for ourselves, but because the world needs it.”