government is doing itself a disservice when it comes to CO2 storage under the North Sea

• Michiel Breedveld

  Political reporter

The plan to store CO2 from industry in old gas bubbles under the North Sea is beneficial for business. So much so that the national government is doing itself a disservice, the Court of Audit concludes in an investigation into the Porthos project.

In that project, CO2 is stored in the North Sea via pipelines under the port of Rotterdam. From 2026, Shell and ExxonMobile, among others, will capture and store CO2 from the Rotterdam Botlek.

The differences between what it yields for companies and what the government gains from it are such that the Court of Audit recommends dividing the proceeds from such projects differently in the future.

Capturing and storing CO2 is a controversial technique. Opponents believe that it is better to invest in alternative clean technologies instead of remaining dependent on fossil fuels and investing in capturing emissions.

Environmental group Mobilization for the Environment (MOB) filed a lawsuit to stop the construction of the CO2 capture facility, but the court ruled against it.

The Court of Audit does not comment on the political choice to continue with the storage. “The government has chosen to use this technology, and for the first and exceptional time we have investigated in advance whether it is efficient,” said Barbara Joziasse of the Court of Audit.

According to the Court of Audit, the project makes a significant contribution to the Dutch climate target in 2030. By then, 2.3 megatons of carbon dioxide will be captured. Over the entire duration of the project until 2042, this amounts to 34.6 megatonnes. That is about a tenth of the total target for major industry.

“The government initially assumed that it would spend around 1.8 billion euros in subsidies for this. But that is probably much less or perhaps almost nothing,” says Joziasse. The ever-increasing prices for purchasing CO2 make capturing and storing cheaper, making subsidies unnecessary.

Industry benefits significantly from the project, but the government to a much lesser extent, according to the Court of Audit. For industry, the return can be up to 34.2 percent, while for the government – the indirect owner of Porthos – it is at most 2.2 percent. While the government will pay for all costs of setbacks or risks of, for example, CO2 leaks in the future.

“It is a matter of the benefits and the burdens,” says Joziasse. “Business has the benefits, while the government bears the burden.” The government does not benefit proportionately from a higher return. The Court of Audit recommends that these costs and benefits be better distributed in future projects.

Jetten, the outgoing Minister of Climate and Energy, agrees with the Court of Audit’s findings. He points out that this is the first project to capture and store CO2. In subsequent projects, he says he will pay more attention to a more balanced distribution of benefits and risks.