Even if the world succeeds in dramatically cutting its collective CO2 emissions, there is an urgent need to remove billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, according to European specialist growth equity Verdane. It has therefore joined forces with Södra, a globally leading forest industry group, and Equinor, an international energy company and global leader in permanent CO2storage, to develop an international initiative called Njord Carbon.
Njord Carbon will aim to sustainably remove and permanently store biogenic carbon emissions. This technology is critical to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, according to recent IPCC and other reports.
Njord Carbon is also intended to provide highly durable and cost-efficient carbon dioxide removals at scale. It could also help accelerate the global market and infrastructure needed for bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and other permanent carbon removal solutions at scale. Njord Carbon welcomes further partners committed to permanently engineered carbon emission removal.
The project's purpose is to make high-quality carbon removals available at scale, and at an affordable price point. Through its constituent partner organisations, Njord Carbon will offer certified, waste-based, permanent carbon dioxide removal credits. By separating out and permanently storing CO2 originally captured by growing trees, Njord Carbon is designed to standsat the forefront of tech-enabled negative emissions – and aims to go beyond others that simply reduce emissions from existing industrial processes.
To scale the initiative, Njord Carbon is actively looking for additional partners with access to sustainable sources of waste-based, biogenic CO2 and high-quality underground storage. Njord Carbon is also seeking ambitious early movers in the carbon removals space – from customers and technology providers, through to financiers.
Bjarne Lie, managing partner at Verdane, said, “We believe Njord Carbon will offer a significant reduction in the cost of high quality, permanent engineered carbon removals compared to all other existing alternatives globally.
"In April, Verdane became the first Private Equity firm to commit to neutralise all future residual scope 3 emissions with permanent engineered carbon removals.
"Njord Carbon will allow us to purchase such offsets at a very different price point in the future, and we hope the reduced costs will encourage many other businesses to make the same commitment.”
