7. Standards

7.1 Standardisation – a key to CCS success

Standardisation is crucial for the development and implementation of technologies and processes that can provide safe, efficient and reliable carbon capture and storage around the world. Through the CLIMIT programme, support has been given to operators in Norway who are spearheading the work on establishing common international standards for carbon capture, transport and storage.

The CLIMIT programme is Norway’s national programme for the research, development and demonstration of carbon capture, transport and storage technology. The programme is supported by the Research Council of Norway and Gassnova and has a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from industry through the development of sustainable CCS solutions. An important component in this work is the development and implementation of international standards. This is where the ISO plays a vital role.

This article will discuss the significance of standardisation work within the CLIMIT programme, and how this contributes to promoting CCS technology globally. Relevant ISO standards that have been developed and are still under development are also discussed.

7.1.1 Why standardisation is important

Standardisation within the CCS sector focuses on establishing common guidelines, specifications and processes that operators across the world can follow for carbon capture, transportation and storage. From a CLIMIT perspective, standardisation has several important functions:

Safety and reliability: Standards ensure that technology used for carbon capture and storage is safe and reliable, which is essential for long-term storage in geological formations.
Efficiency and cost savings: Common standards reduce costs by enabling technologies to be developed at larger scale with uniform requirements. This also produces efficiency improvements in collaboration and saves time in the implementation process.
International acceptance and market development: For CCS to be a viable global solution, different countries must adopt the same standards. This makes it possible to build a market for technology exchange and implementation across national borders.
Confidence and regulatory support: Public and private investors require a high degree of security and confidence in technology. Standardisation makes it easier for authorities and regulators to provide necessary approvals.

7.1.2 Relevant ISO standards for CCS

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has developed and continues to develop many standards that are directly relevant to CCS. These standards have a broad range of applications, from transport and storage to risk and environmental assessments. Here are some of the ISO standards related to CCS:

ISO 27912:2016 – Carbon dioxide capture — Carbon dioxide capture systems, technologies and processes: This standard describes the principles and information necessary to clarify the CO₂ capture system and provide stakeholders with the guidance and knowledge necessary for the development of a series of standards for CO₂ capture.

ISO 27914:2017 –Carbon dioxide capture, transportation, and geological storage – Geological storage: This standard describes the requirements for safe and efficient carbon storage in geological formations, including risk assessments, monitoring and securing storage sites. This standard is crucial for ensuring that storage sites have the necessary integrity for safe storage over time.

ISO 27917:2017 – Carbon dioxide capture, transportation, and geological storage – Quantification and verification: This standard provides methods for how stored CO₂ can be quantified and verified, which is crucial for monitoring and ensuring that CO₂ remains safely stored. This standardised approach makes it possible to document the storage results reliably and in a verifiable manner. This is crucial for international collaboration and trust that CCS projects deliver on environmental goals.

ISO/TR 27915:2017 – Carbon dioxide capture, transportation, and geological storage – Quantification and verification: This technical report provides guidelines and risk assessments of geological carbon storage, including methods for quantification and verification. The standard contributes to the identification, assessment and management of potential risks of storage projects in a systematic manner. This provides a safer storage process and increases trust that stored CO₂ remains safely in place over time.

ISO 27916:2019 – Carbon dioxide capture, transportation, and geological storage – Carbon dioxide storage using enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR): This standard specifies methods and processes for storing CO₂ in salt water aquifers and underground formations. By standardising the processes for carbon storage in aquifers, this standard ensures that storage takes place in a safe and efficient manner. This promotes the use of aquifers as storage solutions and strengthens the international development of CCS.

ISO/TR 27918:2018 – Lifecycle risk management for integrated CCS projects: This standard is designed to be an information resource for the potential future development of a standard for overall risk management for CCS projects. The risks associated with any one stage of the CCS process (capture, transportation, or storage) are assumed to be covered by specific standard(s) within ISO/TC 265 and other national and/or international standards. For example, the risks associated with CO₂ transport by pipelines are covered in ISO 27913.

ISO 27919-2:2021 – Carbon dioxide capture Part 2: Evaluation procedure to assure and maintain stable performance of post-combustion CO₂ capture plant integrated with a power plant: This standard provides methods for the evaluation of carbon capture after combustion, focussing on integrations at power plants. This standard provides standardised evaluation criteria that ensure that capture systems can be assessed for efficiency and performance in a uniform manner, which is important for reducing carbon emissions from energy production.

ISO 27913:2024 – Carbon dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage — Pipeline transportation systems:This standard specifies the requirements and recommendations for the transportation of CO₂ streams from the capture site to the storage facility where it is primarily stored in a geological formation or used for other purposes (e.g. for enhanced oil recovery or CO₂ use). This standard also includes aspects of CO₂ stream quality assurance, as well as converging CO₂ streams from different sources. Transportation of CO₂ via ship, rail or on road is not covered in this document.

ISO/TR 27925:2023 – Carbon dioxide capture, transportation and geological storage – Cross cutting issues – Flow assurance: This standard describes and explains the physical and chemical phenomena, and the technical issues associated with flow assurance in the various components of a carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) system and provides information on how to achieve and manage flow assurance.

ISO/TR 27929:2024 – Transportation of CO₂ by ship: This standard provides insights into the essential aspects of CO₂ shipping and provides basic descriptions of how the CO₂ carrier and technology therein is technically integrated with the CCS value chain. It also includes a description of specific challenges of transporting CO2 as cargo, how this differs from other gases transported by ships today, and how this influences the ship design and operation.

7.2 CLIMIT’s role in ISO standardisation

The CLIMIT programme has been active in promoting and supporting the implementation of standards in Norwegian CCS projects, as well as contributing to the development of new standards that reflect experience from Norwegian and international projects. CLIMIT works closely with standardisation organisations such as ISO and CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and participates in working groups that develop new standards.

This includes collaboration with operators such as Equinor, research institutes and technology manufacturers. The Northern Lights project is an example of how the ISO standards can be implemented in practice, and how projects can provide insights that can also influence the further development of these standards. In addition, CLIMIT has contributed to collating experiences from international collaborations through ECCSEL and CO₂ Field Lab, which has formed the basis for revisions to ISO standards to better reflect real-world operating conditions.

7.2.1 Examples of CLIMIT projects supporting standardisation work

Through its various projects, the CLIMIT programme has actively contributed to the implementation and further development of relevant ISO standards. Some examples include:

CO₂ Field Lab: This project has developed technology and methods for monitoring storage sites and detecting any leakages. Data and experience from this has contributed to the content of ISO 27914 and helped to define best practice for monitoring geological storage sites.
ECCSEL ERIC: The European research collaboration ECCSEL ERIC aims to develop CCS infrastructure and test facilities. This project provides valuable data and test results.
ALIGN-CCUS: The Align CCUS project works on the cost-effective implementation of CCS technology and has collated experiences from several European countries. This project has tested methods and technologies that contribute to meeting ISO requirements and improving frameworks for risk management and safety.

7.2.2 Led by Standards Norway

The project ‘Administrative management of Norwegian participation in the development of ISO standards for CCS’ is led by Standards Norway, which will have administrative and standardisation management of the Norwegian CCS committee SN/K-544 and the contact with ISO/TC-265. Standards Norway will be responsible for organising annual committee meetings, participating in annual ISO/TC-265 meetings, secretariat responsibilities and carrying out knowledge dissemination through Standards Norway.

The international standardisation work for CCS is taking place in an ISO technical committee (TC-265). Standards Norway was designated by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries as Norway’s official representative at the ISO.

Standards Norway has established a Norwegian CCS committee (SN/K-544) that participates in ISO/TC-265. The Norwegian committee consists of Norwegian CCS experts. Some of these experts have received support from CLIMIT Demo to participate in international standardisation efforts. The following companies have received support from CLIMIT Demo over the period 2013-2026: Standards Norway, DNV, Tel-Tek, IOM LAW Advokatfirma AS, Sintef Energy, Cauchois Consulting, IFE.

The project will support Norwegian efforts in international standardisation work to contribute to the development of standards of a high professional quality and use value and to ensure that Norwegian interests are safeguarded by the standards.

7.2.3 ISO Technical Committee

This project is led by the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), and its main activities include participation as an expert in the working groups “2 Transportation” and “5 Cross Cutting Issues” in ISO/TC-265, as well as participating in meetings in the Norwegian CCS committee.

A technical report on the transportation of CO₂ by ship will be developed. The work on the report will be led by the Norwegian committee, and the expertise of IFE will be needed for this work.

The goal is that knowledge and results from IFE projects be shared through the international work on developing technical and reporting standards.

7.2.4 ISO Technical Report CO₂ shipping

The project is led by Det Norske Veritas (DNV). Members of ISO/TC-265 and other stakeholders have requested standards for CO₂ shipping in CCS chains. Based on this, ISO/TC-265 has established a working group on shipping. This working group will lead this project and develop a technical report on CO₂ shipping in the CCS chain. The report will be the first step in and a basis for the development of equivalent/corresponding standards.

The report will address requirements and recommendations for the safe and reliable design, construction and operation of CO₂ transport ships that are not already covered by existing guidelines, rules and regulations, including IGC code, flag state and ship classification rules. The report will also contain a description of concepts for shipping, a discussion of the physical qualities of CO₂ relevant for shipping and an assessment of health, safety and environment (HSE).

The aim of the project is that the technical report be completed and approved by ISO/TC-265.

7.2.5 Support for Norwegian legal expertise

This project is led by IOM LAW Advokatfirma AS, as an expert in the international standardisation work in ISO/TC-265 Working Group 7 Transportation of CO₂ by Ship. IOM LAW Advokatfirma AS received support from CLIMIT Demo over the period 2017-2026 to participate as an ISO expert.

The aim of the project is to help safeguard Norwegian interests in the development of standards of a high professional quality and use value.

7.2.6 Analysis of regulatory learning and the road ahead

This project is led by IOM LAW Advokatfirma AS, which will analyse potential solutions to the named challenges and gaps in relation to Gassnova’s publication on regulatory learning from planning and implementation of the Longship project. Gassnova’s report on regulatory learning highlights a number of regulatory challenges and gaps in the existing framework, including:

How to create more predictable frameworks for responsibility, transfer of responsibility, third-party access and monitoring of stored CO₂.
Analysis of the ability to create more incentives for biogenic CO₂.
Analysis of Norwegian, European and international regulatory frameworks for comparative learning.
Comparison with the regulatory framework for petroleum activities to assess the reuse of principles and models.
A study of the use of the standards and technical reports published under ISO/TC-265 to reduce the gap in the regulatory framework.

The aim is to find concrete solutions to the challenges that Gassnova’s report highlights, something which can contribute to predictable operational frameworks that treat operators equally.

7.2.7 ISO standards create a common framework

Standardisation work, and in particular ISO standardisation, is crucial for CLIMIT’s goal of promoting CCS technology as an effective and safe solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The ISO standards provide a common framework for ensuring quality, reliability and security, and CLIMIT projects such as Northern Lights, CO₂ Field Lab, ECCSEL and Align CCUS have been involved in developing and implementing these standards in practice.

By focussing on a common framework for safe and efficient CCS, the ISO standards will facilitate the global roll-out of CCS. CLIMIT’s support for the standardisation work contributes to a sustainable and robust market for CCS solutions.

Publication: CLIMIT`s Project Portfolio