The captured CO2 will be shipped and permanently stored under the Norwegian North Sea at the Northern Lights facility, itself co-funded through the Connecting Europe Facility. The project stems from the 2023 EU-Norway Green Alliance and is expected to capture and store around 12 million tonnes of CO2 over 15 years, targeting emissions from fertiliser and ammonia production, one of the most energy-intensive processes in the chemical sector, and a step that could ease the compliance burden facing producers as free allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System are phased down over the coming years.

Commissioner Hoekstra linked the inauguration directly to the Clean Industrial Deal and the recent proposal to review the EU Emissions Trading System, framing the project as a model for combining climate goals with industrial competitiveness. He noted that projects of this scale demonstrate that decarbonisation and competitiveness can be pursued together, rather than treated as competing priorities, a message aimed at reassuring energy-intensive industries about the direction of EU climate policy.

For the wider chemical sector, the Sluiskil facility offers a concrete reference point for how carbon capture technology can be deployed at existing production sites without requiring a fundamental redesign of manufacturing processes, an approach other ammonia and fertiliser producers facing similar cost and emissions pressures are likely to watch closely as they weigh their own investment decisions.

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