Work on Europe's largest carbon capture site to start in Rotterdam next year - Reuters
Work on Europe's largest carbon capture site to start in Rotterdam next year | Reuters
Work on Europe's largest carbon capture site to start in Rotterdam next year
General view at a compressor station of Dutch gas company Gasunie, that's specializing in gas transport with a more than 15500 kilometer long pipeline network in the Netherlands and Germany, in Embsen, Germany, April 1, 2022. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
AMSTERDAM, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Construction of Europe's largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility will begin in the Rotterdam port area next year, its developers said on Wednesday.
The planned "Porthos" project will require an investment of 1.3 billion euros ($1.38 billion) and is expected to be operational by 2026, said its developers, who include the Rotterdam port authorities and Dutch gas company Gasunie.
Under the project, CO2 emitted by refineries and chemical plants operated by Shell (SHEL.L), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Air Liquide and Air Products (APD.N) will be transported to empty gas fields under the North Sea around 20 kilometres (12.5 miles)off the Dutch coast.
There it will be stored at a depth of 3 to 4 kilometres under the seabed, reducing the Netherlands' annual CO2 emissions by an estimated 2% for a period of 15 years from 2026.
The companies involved will invest in their own capture installations to supply CO2 to Porthos, the developers said.
Capturing the CO2 emitted by large industries is seen by many experts as instrumental to the Dutch government's aim for a 55% reduction of those emissions by 2030, relative to 1990 levels.
Emissions in the Netherlands were around 30% lower than in 1990 last year.
($1 = 0.9449 euros)
Reporting by Bart Meijer; editing by Jason Neely and Sharon Singleton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”