Denmark to become first nation to import and bury CO2, here's everything about the Greensand project

Denmark is all set to become the first nation in the world to bury carbon dioxide (CO2) imported from abroad as it has launched a project on Wednesday to store carbon dioxide 1,800 metres beneath the North Sea.

The CO2 will be injected on the site of an exhaustive oil field. Led by British chemical firm Ineos and German oil major Wintershall Dea, the "Greensand" project is projected to store up to eight million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.

Project Greensand works to ensure that Denmark can use the storage of CO2 as part of the solution to climate challenges.The project has 23 Danish and international partners who contribute expertise from transport, storage and monitoring of CO2 in the underground.

The members include Danish and international companies, research institutes, universities and start-ups.

The project aspires to do a green transformation. Solar cell systems are being installed, offshore wind farms are being built, and the nation is also replacing petrol and diesel cars with electric cars.But even if all these steps are in the right direction, Denmark said it is not enough if one is to solve the climate challenges and achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

"We must also capture CO2 from the emitters and store it," the project website said adding, the UN's climate panel points to the capture and storage of CO2 as an effective tool to quickly reduce CO2 emissions.

Project Greensand is the most mature project for storing CO2 in Denmark, with the possibility of storing up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year in 2025/2026 and up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 per year in 2030.

The project is currently in the pilot phase, which is called phase 2. This is where the project is developed and demonstrated.

CO2 to be stored in the North Sea will be shipped from Antwerp in Belgium to the Nini platform in the North Sea. It is liquefied and transported by ship orpipelines, and then stored in reservoirs like geological cavities or exhausted oil and gas fields.

The CO2's final destination is in a reservoir 1,800 metres below the seabed, where it is permanently stored.

Geological and production data have been collected on the Nini field for more than 20 years. This means that the leading partners INEOS and Wintershall Dea know the underground structures extremely well, the project website added.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE