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Switzerland and Norway sign CO2 storage deal

Switzerland and Norway want to push ahead with CO2 storage together
Swiss Environment Minister Albert Rösti (left) at the signing of the agreement on June 17. Keystone-SDA

Switzerland and Norway have signed a bilateral agreement for the future storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) under the North Sea. It creates the legal basis for its cross-border transport and storage.

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Around a dozen companies from Switzerland and Norway have launched pilot projects within this framework, according to a joint press release by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and Norway’s Ministry of Energy.

The aim of these projects is to find out how carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and cross-border CO2 storage (CCS) can be integrated into international climate policy. The volumes are initially symbolic. This is the first agreement of its kind between two countries, according to the press release.

CDR aims to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. CCS is a process in which carbon dioxide is captured at source, liquefied and injected into underground storage facilities, for example.

There are no such storage facilities in Switzerland, but countries such as Norway, Denmark and Germany are planning CO2 storage facilities in the North Sea.

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“The storage of CO2 will also be important for Switzerland on the way to the net-zero target,” said Environment Minister Albert Rösti in the press statement. This technology complements the existing instruments for decarbonisation.

Rösti travelled to Norway on Monday for a two-day visit. The agreement was signed as part of the Longship Conference in Oslo, a Norwegian government project to store CO2.

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