Deploying carbon removal in Norway
Carbon Gap's roadmap and report examining how carbon removal can be deployed in Norway based on local enabling conditions, available in English and Norwegian.
Norway’s physical geography, national and international climate policy, and social geography all play a role in the future potential of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technology deployment in the country. This report evaluates suitability of both technological and nature-based CDR pathways in Norway and details the various geographical, social, and political aspects that could affect their deployment.
The report begins with an overview of existing CDR methods, and details which methods are considered in this study. The resource requirements to operate CDR (energy, water, land, storage, etc.) are characterized for the selected methods.
The report then assesses the availability of the various resources required, considering the constrained volumes and the essential (priority) non-negotiable uses. Beyond the current situation of the considered resources, possible trends are also analysed, to assess whether additional volumes can be generated to mitigate the competition of CDR with existing uses.
To complete this first part of the report, the current regulatory environment is analysed to identify the enabling and limiting factors for the development of CDR processes. Using published data, the report provides an overview of the structure of the Norwegian economy, its political landscape, and attitudes regarding climate change, as well as documented characteristics of Norwegian society.
By combining the maximum volumes of resources theoretically available with the requirements by method, and within the limits of the regulatory framework, the theoretical maximum potential for deploying negative emissions is estimated.
This report has been used as an information base to develop a roadmap of actions required to accelerate the deployment of CDR in Norway, which was designed jointly by the project team and a sample of key stakeholders in Norway. The roadmap is published in a separate document. The project brought together a network of key stakeholders in Norway to develop this roadmap and it is our hope that this group will be instrumental in promoting its recommendations to policymakers - ensuring that the roadmap is not only actionable, but also put into action.
In addition to the background report and the roadmap, the Norwegian Board of Technology (NBT) conducted a citizen engagement panel on assessing the impacts and options of CDR for Norwegian society. The results of this panel engagement are summarized in the Annex 5 of this report. This work has been commissioned by Carbon Gap, a non-profit organisation which is advocating for accelerating the development and deployment of carbon removal in Europe.