“A beacon for financing of important research”

So says the chair of the Programme Board, Arvid Nøttveit. “But although we have come a long way, there is still much to be done to develop the technologies that will be needed to reach our climate goals.”

Very rewarding

Nøttveit has been chair of the Programme Board for CLIMIT since the start of 2019. “I accepted the position because for ten years I had been working on issues related to research into CO₂ management, including as head of the SUCCESS research centre (FME), which was concerned with developing better methods for CO₂ storage. The work of the Programme Board gives me insight and keeps me updated on what is happening in this exciting field of research both in Norway and around the world, so it is very rewarding.”

The CLIMIT programme is a collaboration between Gassnova and the Research Council of Norway, and aims to enable faster implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS). CLIMIT encompasses the Research Council of Norway’s support scheme for research and development (the R&D part) and Gassnova’s support for development and demonstration (the Demo part). Gassnova has overall responsibility for coordination and heads the programme secretariat. The mandate of the Programme Board is to process applications for projects in both categories on the recommendation of the secretariat, and perform regular audits of the programme plan for CLIMIT. This plan, which defines the type of projects that can receive support, is normally updated every two years, but it can also be changed more frequently when innovations appear that could have an impact on the way CO₂ is handled in the future. In CLIMIT-Demo there are now 71 active projects receiving a total of NOK 378 million in support, while CLIMIT R&D comprises 50 projects with financial support amounting to NOK 368 million. The Programme Board has ten members who meet five to six times a year.

“The work involves examining and processing project applications based on preparatory work from the secretariat. We also have an important role to play in ensuring that the programme keeps abreast of research and development in the CO₂ field. For example, we recently decided that projects related to the production of blue hydrogen are also eligible to apply. The challenge with this way of producing hydrogen is that the by-product is CO₂. This has to be captured and stored so the production does not contribute to global warming – and this requires more research and development of usable technologies.”

Why is the CLIMIT programme important for the development of CCS technology?

“This is a question I have been thinking about for a long time, and the answer relates to development for CCS internationally. We have to admit that there have been both ups and downs, with great enthusiasm and commitment to making CCS part of the climate solution often being followed by inactivity. In contrast, CLIMIT has been firmly established and stable since its inception in 2004; a beacon for financing of important research. In my opinion, the Norwegian authorities’ commitment and belief in CCS have been very important to the leading position we have in Norway in technology for handling CO₂, and have also contributed to development in other countries, because many of the CLIMIT projects are run jointly with international partners.”

“The other thing I would mention which makes the CLIMIT programme unique is the breadth of the project portfolio. The programme includes everything from pure research to industrial projects. I believe that this approach, with the vast knowledge base it has provided, has been crucial to our ability to implement Longship with two full-scale capture projects and transport and storage of CO₂. We are now seeing this major Norwegian initiative also triggering far greater engagement with CCS internationally.”

What do you see as the three most important measures in CLIMIT’s programme plan?

“Firstly, it is important for us to be able to maintain the breadth of project categories, because we are still at an early stage in the development of technologies needed by the global community. CLIMIT should also view CCS in the context of other technologies in the energy field that will be important for the green transformation. Finally, we must be open to including technology projects that may initially seem difficult to realise on a large scale, such as capturing CO₂ directly from the air. This is because, as things stand, a prerequisite for achieving the Paris Agreement goal of no more than 1.5 to 2 degrees of global warming is not just a reduction in current greenhouse gas emissions, but also what are called negative emissions. In other words, CLIMIT also has to contribute to the development of technologies that actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.” 

What should CLIMIT prioritise in terms of technology development in the future – where are the gaps?

“We must continue to contribute to projects that aim to reduce costs by using the mature technologies that are now being adopted, in the Longship project for example, because this is vital if we are to realise more projects, and for these to be commercial, with little or no need for government funding. It is also important to create technology for integrating capture facilities into existing, often compact, industrial environments. Technology for scaling is a very important issue for the transport and storage of CO₂. Northern Lights is a great demonstration facility, but if the goals set by the EU and the IEA are to be attained, the storage capacity has to be very rapidly increased to a hundred times the volume that Northern Lights will be able to handle. For this, technology for reception and storage needs to be developed to allow these demands to be met within a commercial economic framework.”

What needs do you see for the CLIMIT programme over the next five years?

“I am concerned that CLIMIT should be able and allowed to play a continued role in the years to come. It is important to emphasise that even if we succeed with Longship, there will still be a need for new technologies for handling CO₂ both nationally and internationally. This is not just a responsibility that we have to take on as a nation – with our status and leading position in the field, it also offers us great opportunities. This is because, through the EU’s CETPartnership (formerly ACT), we can launch and receive support for technology development with co-financing from the Horizon programme.”

What do you think is needed to develop and finance several large Norwegian full-scale projects in addition to Longship?

“It will probably be a long time before the state steps in with the same financial clout as in Longship to implement full-scale carbon capture and storage. In other words, industry and business need to take the responsibility, with less public support. However, we still need a scheme to promote the development and realisation of projects which, thanks to support from CLIMIT and other sources, are on the drawing board and ready to go. To cover this gap, there is therefore a need for better interaction between stakeholders such as Enova, Gassnova, Innovation Norway and the Research Council of Norway. A strategy needs to be drawn up to define how the policy apparatus can best help to ensure that essential and achievable climate benefits are realised.”