Northern Lights Issues First Carbon Dioxide Storage Certificates

The Northern Lights joint venture has issued the first storage certificates for carbon dioxide permanently stored in the Aurora reservoir. The certificates document the quantities of CO₂ transported and stored.

“Credible carbon accounting is essential to the integrity of the emerging CCS [carbon capture and storage] industry,” said Tim Heijn, managing director for Northen Lights. “It includes a precise tracking of CO₂ volumes transported and stored, as well as emissions arising across the value chain. The CO₂ accounting and measurement procedures are described in Northern Lights’ Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV). Data is recorded in our digital system, which is designed as ledger for all certificates.”

Each Northern Lights certificate is issued to a specific CO₂ ship cargo and details the quantity of CO₂ stored, with a breakdown of its share of relevant life-cycle emissions, from initial loading to the issuance of storage certificates, which also include and account for emissions from the facilities and operations. This process ensures that the certificate serves as transparent and verifiable proof of emission storage.

In August, the first CO₂ was transported through the 100-km pipeline and injected into the Aurora offshore reservoir 2600 m below the seabed of the Norwegian North Sea.

Northern Lights is transporting and storing CO₂ from two Norwegian industries—Heidelberg Materials’ cement factory in Brevik and the Hafslund Celsio waste-to-energy plant in Oslo. In addition, Northern Lights has signed commercial agreements with Yara in the Netherlands, Ørsted in Denmark, and Stockholm Exergi in Sweden.  The CO₂ volumes from Denmark and the Netherlands are expected in 2026. 

Following the start of the CO₂ injection, Northern Lights has issued the very first set of storage certificates documenting that the CO₂ volumes captured at the Heidelberg Materials cement factory have been transported and stored permanently in the reservoir.

The Northern Lights JV is equally owned by Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, and the first phase is part of Longship, the Norwegian government’s full-scale CCS project.  

Phase 1 has a capacity of 1.5 mtpa of CO₂ and is fully booked. In March, the partners reached final investment decision for the $713 million Phase 2 of the development, which is expected to increase transport and storage capacity to at least 5 mtpa of CO₂ in 2028.