Storing CO2 for the sake of the climate

DW (English)

The climate clock is ticking, and countries are looking to cut carbon emissions. Norway and the US are storing CO2 underground. It’s an expensive technology, and not without risk. Will Germany also get on board?

Transcript

00:00Why are Norway and the U.S. ahead of Germany on carbon capture and storage?

00:06And what is it exactly?

00:08Both countries benefit from the technical know-how of their oil and gas industries,

00:13and they're heavily investing in CCS technology.

00:17The Norwegian government has supported our part of the project with 80% funding.

00:26In Breivik, Norway, Heidelberg Materials began revamping a cement factory last year.

00:31They're installing a carbon capture plant without disrupting daily operations.

00:36The German company wants to launch the first net-zero cement produced using carbon capture and storage.

00:42Here's how it works.

00:44An industrial facility like the one in Breivik separates and captures the CO2 from its smokestack emissions.

00:51The CO2 is liquefied and shipped to a storage location.

00:55Then it's injected through a pipeline up to three kilometers under the seabed into deep sandstone formations.

01:02The CO2 can also be stored on land and transported by truck, rail or pipelines.

01:09So why is it so hard to produce cement without carbon emissions?

01:16Flinker is the main ingredient of cement.

01:21And in that kiln process, there's a lot of CO2 coming out of the limestone.

01:28This is Jan Teulen. He's a 30-year veteran of the cement industry.

01:33We try, of course, to reduce the amount of clinker in cement.

01:38That's an ever-decreasing factor.

01:41But there is a limit, because at a certain moment, your cement will not perform anymore.

01:47You will not have concrete which has the performance that it needs.

01:52So there are technical limits.

01:55CCS technology is intended for use in hard-to-abate sectors like steel, chemicals and the cement industry.

02:03Industries that can't completely eliminate carbon emissions.

02:07But why is a German company coming all the way to Norway for this?

02:11It's fairly simple.

02:13CCS technology is banned in Germany.

02:16Economics minister Robert Habeck wants to change that.

02:19He also paid a visit to Breivik.

02:21Early adopter Norway introduced CCS in 1996.

02:25Now they're investing 1.5 billion euros in the longship project,

02:29which aims to show how vast amounts of captured carbon can be safely transported

02:34and locked away under the seabed, at a profit.

02:38I think this really is a shift in the debate,

02:42that they are interested in CO2 to make money off their storage capacity.

02:49This is Felix Schenewald. He studies European climate policy.

02:54So they are really asking for EU member states,

02:58do you want to export your CO2?

03:00We have the capacity here, we have the technology.

03:04Northern Lights is part of the longship project.

03:07Owned by Shell, Total Energies and Equinor,

03:11its new CO2 storage facility is due to go online in 2024.

03:16The companies have partnered with the Norwegian government.

03:19They'll receive subsidies in the development phase

03:22and in the first 10 years of operation.

03:24The goal? Job creation.

03:26And lucrative business in carbon transport and storage.

03:30Industrial partner Heidelberg Materials is also profiting from the new technology

03:35and the generous subsidies that will help revamp its facility.

03:39The Norwegian government has supported our part of the project with 80% funding.

03:48The whole investment is a few hundred million.

03:52But Breivik is just one of about 140 facilities operated by Heidelberg Materials,

03:58one of the world's largest concrete manufacturers.

04:01They're planning to invest some 1.5 billion euros by 2030, including in the US.

04:07That's also because President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act

04:11offers financial incentives to companies that invest in carbon capture and storage.

04:17In 2023, the largest number of CCS facilities were under construction in the US,

04:23followed by Canada, the UK, China and Norway.

04:27And this map depicts the commercial ventures that are already in operation.

04:32But why is the US so advanced when it comes to carbon capture and storage?

04:36It is also important that they don't really have this discussion about how to evade emissions,

04:42at least not the way we have it in Germany.

04:45So in the US, you could also capture fossil CO2 and store it underground.

04:51To find out more, let's take a look at what's called Enhanced Oil Recovery,

04:56a technology that's been employed mainly in North America for more than 50 years.

05:02High-pressure CO2 is injected into an oil field, raising the pressure underground.

05:08The crude oil becomes more viscous and can be pumped to the surface more easily.

05:14But what are the risks?

05:17Scientists say that some 150 billion tons of CO2 could be stored under the North Sea,

05:24a region that includes a number of marine protection zones.

05:28But what if there's a leak?

05:30Leakage is possible.

05:32And the biggest problem are probably the old wells.

05:36So if you want to look at the North Sea as an example,

05:40we have there something like 17,000 wells that have been drilled in the past,

05:46over the last decades, mostly to look for oil and gas.

05:50And it's often unclear what were these old wells, these abandoned wells.

05:55But maybe a pathway for CO2 leakage, that's something that needs to be considered.

06:01Let's recap.

06:03Countries like Norway have been on board with CCS for quite a while.

06:07They have a big technological edge and are subsidizing CCS on a grand scale.

06:12That's also true in the US under Biden.

06:15Norway and the US also benefit from the know-how of their oil and gas industries.

06:21Germany still has to legalize CCS and might export CO2 to Norway.

06:27One thing's for sure, the technology is expensive and it's not without risk.

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