It was recently announced that Ørsted will sell carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits to Equinor. This agreement states that the sale will take place over a ten-year period and the credits will amount to 330,000 tonnes of CO2.

One of the reasons why Equinor has agreed to be part of this deal, is because ‘contributing to a functioning voluntary carbon market’ which is what this agreement counts as, is part of Equinor’s strategy around reducing its net scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the end of 2030, in comparison to its 2015 levels. It is clear that a maximum of 10% of this target would be able to be achieved through CDR credits, meaning that a minimum of 90% of this target has to be achieved through absolute reductions.

The reason Ørsted agreed to be part of this deal, is because it is part of their CO2 capture and storage project, 'Ørsted Kalundborg CO2 Hub,’ which will capture 430,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 on a yearly basis. The carbon that is captured will be from Ørsted’s biomass-fired CHP plants from 2026 and this CO2 is from sustainable biomass and this will be permanently stored under the North Sea seabed. It will be through this technique that carbon dioxide will be removed from the atmosphere, whilst simultaneously contributing to negative emissions.

Northern Lights, which is Ørsted’s partner, is also owned by Equinor, as well as others and it is Northern Lights which is responsible for storing CO2 in the subsurface.

Senior Vice President and Head of Ørsted's Bioenergy business, Ole Thomsen, commented, "Equinor shares Ørsted's commitment to maturing carbon capture and storage technologies. We already have a partnership with Equinor and Nordsøfonden to explore the possibility of storing CO2 in the subsurface, and we’re pleased to expand the collaboration through this agreement on the sale of CDR credits."

Senior Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at Equinor, Svein Skeie, mentioned, “We’re very pleased to expand our cooperation with Ørsted to also include CDR credits. We both share the belief that building markets enabling the physical reduction and removal of carbon will play a role in reducing emissions.”