New Nordic Policy Paper: CO2-removal in the nordic countries

To scale up carbon dioxide removal (CDR), national policy is key. The Nordic countries have the possibility to take a leading position within CO₂-removal, having large forest lands, many biogenic emission point sources, large carbon storage capabilities in the North Sea, and relevant technological communities. Carbon dioxide removal is on the Nordic political agenda, there are political discussions and ongoing CDR projects in all the Nordic countries. How do we accelerate the transition going forward?

Climate Neutral Nordics is a collaboration between Skift, Hagainitiativet and Climate Leadership Coalition (CLC), financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. As a collaboration between Skift and ZERO, here we present our most recent policy recommendations written by ZERO, exploring the potential for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in the Nordic region.

It is widely acknowledged that it is no longer enough to simply reduce emissions to reach international climate targets. Substantial amounts of CO₂ must also be removed from the atmosphere through carbon dioxide removal (CDR). This can be achieved with nature-based methods, such as forestation and restoration of wetlands, and technological methods, such as direct air capture of CO₂ (DACCS) and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

There is a unique potential for carbon dioxide removal in the Nordic region, both by technological and nature-based solutions. Sweden and Finland, with their large bio-based industries, have a great potential to realize CDR with BECCS. Norway and Denmark, in turn, have large capacities to store CO₂ in underground reservoirs.This portrays that there are great opportunities for cross border cooperation, to reduce costs and increase the total volume of carbon dioxide removal. If successful, the Nordic region can play an important role internationally in developing technology and reducing the costs of the solutions that need to be implemented worldwide. It is important that nations design incentivising policies fit for their national context, that also contributes to enhanced cooperation.

The EU certification scheme for carbon dioxide removal, which currently is being finalized, can both accelerate national policy development and cross border cooperation by offering a coherent framework for verification, reporting and monitoring. Moving forward it is therefore important that governments design incentivising policies fit for their national context.

The policy paper is based on input from Nordic stakeholders during a webinar in October 2022 named “CO2”-Removal: Nordic Innovation Power.

You can read the full policy paper here.

Nordic Business network
“Climate Neutral Nordics” is a collaboration between the business networks Skift – Business Climate Leaders (NOR) Hagainitiative (SWE) and Climate Leadership Coalition, CLC (FIN). The 4-year project is financed by the Nordic Ministry of Councils, and started out in 2021. The project is aiming to facilitate collaboration between business and policy to contribute to the vision in the Nordic region to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030.