Dutch fertiliser company Yara has inaugurated Europe’s largest industrial carbon capture facility at its its Sluiskil plant in the Netherlands, establishing, it says, the first complete cross-border value chain for capturing, transporting, and permanently storing CO₂.

Yara Sluiskil is Europe’s largest ammonia and fertilizer plant and can capture and liquefy up to 800,000 tons of CO₂ annually from ammonia production. The company says that with the right framework conditions in place, the project should capture and store around 12 million tons of CO₂ over the next 15 years, making a significant contribution to European climate goals and industrial transformation.

The CO₂ will be liquefied and temporarily stored at Yara Sluiskil before being transported in Northern Lights vessels to Øygarden, Norway, where it will be permanently stored beneath the seabed.

At the inauguration, where European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth Wopke Hoekstra was in attendance alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Mr Hoekstra said the project shows “what is possible when innovation and cross-border cooperation come together.”

Also present at the ceremony was Northern Lights Managing Director Tim Heijn who said, “This is a milestone we have been looking forward to. We are proud to start operations together with Yara and to see the agreement signed in 2023 become reality. Together, we are demonstrating that capture and cross-border CO₂ transport and storage is a viable solution for European industry. This is an important step in the development of Europe’s carbon management market and shows what is possible when industry and governments work together to build the infrastructure needed for Europe’s transition.”