Fertilizer manufacturer Yara will store some of its CO2 emissions undersea

The investment amounts to 194 million euros. It is the first time that captured CO2 is shipped to another country for storage.

CO2 capture is not without controversy. Some scientists fear that this technique is being used as a delay to avoid having to switch away from fossil fuels. However, the Norwegian Yara sees the so-called Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) as ‘an important part’ of the European sustainability plans.

Bubbles

Of the 3.2 million tons of CO2 that Yara emits in a normal year, according to the fertilizer producer, 1.4 million tons are used for, for example, bubbles in soft drinks and beer. After storing 800,000 tons undersea from 2026, another 1 million tons of CO2 will be released into the air. In 1990 the company still emitted 5.2 million tons of CO2 in Sluiskil. Yara is also a major emitter of nitrogen.

Earlier this year, outgoing Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate) announced that he had made the first tentative climate agreements with a number of the largest polluters. This also included Yara. Ultimately, The Hague wants binding agreements with the sector.