Environment Switzerland and Norway want to push ahead with CO2 storage together
Switzerland and Norway adopted a bilateral agreement on CO2 storage on Tuesday. It creates the legal basis for the cross-border transportation and storage of carbon dioxide.
17.06.2025, 17:47
17.06.2025, 18:01
SDA
Around a dozen companies from Switzerland and Norway have launched pilot projects within this framework, as detailed in a joint press release from the Federal Department of the Environment (Uvek) and the Norwegian Ministry of Energy.
The aim of these projects is to find out how carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and cross-border CO2 storage (CCS) can be integrated into international climate policy. The volumes are initially symbolic. This is the first agreement of its kind between two countries, according to the press release.
CDR aims to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. CCS is a process in which carbon dioxide is captured at source, liquefied and injected into underground storage facilities, for example. There are no such storage facilities in Switzerland, but countries such as Norway, Denmark and Germany are planning CO2 storage facilities in the North Sea.
"The storage of CO2 will also be important for Switzerland on the way to the net-zero target," said Federal Councillor Albert Rösti in the press release. This technology complements the existing instruments for decarbonization.
Rösti traveled to Norway on Monday for a two-day visit. The agreement was signed as part of the Longship Conference in Oslo. Longship is a Norwegian government project to store CO2.
