An international consortium has launched a new company with the aim of shipping captured CO₂ to storage sites within the North Sea. Carbon Collectors aims to fill a niche for European companies that do not have access to CO₂ pipelines to storage sites, either because there is no access to pipelines whatsoever, or because the pipelines that are accessible do not terminate at a permanent storage site. Dutch shipyard Royal Niestern Sander and the shipping company Royal Wagenborg are part of the venture, as are Canada’s Imodco, Eindhoven-based Petrogas, and French certification company Bureau Veritas. Carbon Collectors hopes to have its first ship operating by 2023, and by 2030 be storing 6 million tonnes of CO₂ per year in depleted North Sea oil and gas fields. Director Ludo van Hijfte has told reporters that speed “is crucial to contain climate change. However, not all industries have the technology to be able to sustainably reduce their CO₂ emissions fast enough.” Mr van Hijfte recognises that demand for carbon dioxide as a raw material is currently low, but hopes this will change in the longer term, allowing Carbon Collectors to ship it to companies for use as a feedstock. Shipping, according to the director, “offers flexibility compared to transport by pipelines.”