Denmark has opened the European Union’s first full-scale facility for the permanent storage of CO₂, marking the start of commercial operations for the Greensand carbon capture and storage project.
King Frederik X of Denmark officially opened the facility at a ceremony at the Port of Esbjerg on 18 September.
Led by INEOS Energy alongside Harbour Energy and Nordsøfonden, Greensand is designed to provide industry across Europe with infrastructure to transport and permanently store CO₂ — offering a route to cutting industrial emissions without shutting down the industries on which Europe depends.
The project’s launch marks a shift for carbon capture and storage from demonstration to commercial operation.
David Bucknall, CEO of INEOS Energy, says: "For years, CCS in Europe has been defined by plans, targets and ambitions. Today, Greensand brings the EU’s first full-scale CO₂ storage site and value chain into operation. It provides a foundation on which future Carbon Capture projects across Europe can now build."
The opening comes as Europe’s energy-intensive industries face mounting pressure from high costs and international competition.
These industries directly employ almost eight million people and generate roughly €550 billion in value added each year. They produce materials central to Europe’s infrastructure and security of supply, including cement for housing, roads and energy infrastructure; steel for power grids, wind turbines and defence; and chemicals used in water treatment, medicines, cable insulation and electronics.
At the same time, the EU is targeting annual CO₂ capture and storage capacity of 50 million tonnes by 2030, rising to 250–280 million tonnes by 2040. The scale of existing infrastructure remains well below those targets.
Greensand is intended to help close that gap by establishing the transport and storage side of the CCS value chain, allowing industrial capture projects to develop alongside it.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS, said: "Europe will not achieve net zero by closing factories and exporting its jobs. We need solutions that allow industry to remain competitive while reducing emissions. Greensand proves it can be done. This is not a pilot project, a concept or a political ambition. It is a fully operational carbon transport and storage business. The technology works. The storage is ready. The challenge now is creating the right conditions for carbon capture to scale across Europe."
INEOS will source CO₂ primarily from Danish biomethane plants, providing readily available volumes with which to operate the full CCS chain as capture projects across European industry develop.
Once captured, the CO₂ is liquefied and transported by truck to a dedicated CO₂ terminal at the Port of Esbjerg. It is then shipped aboard Carbon Destroyer 1, the EU’s first purpose-built CO₂ carrier, before being injected into the Nini West reservoir.
The depleted oil field lies around 250 kilometres offshore, approximately 1,800 metres beneath the seabed.
In its first commercial phase, Greensand can permanently store up to 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year. The facility has been designed for significant expansion, with potential capacity of up to 4–8 million tonnes annually as demand grows.
Storage is ready. Capture must now scale.
The commercial launch puts full-scale permanent CO₂ storage into operation in the EU. The next challenge is expanding the supply of captured CO₂ and creating the regulatory, infrastructure and investment conditions needed for industrial emitters to connect to the system at scale.
European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen said, “Today marks an important milestone for Europe. With the launch, here in Esbjerg, of the first fully operational site for offshore carbon storage in the European Union, we prove that carbon storage is a practical reality.
"We show that we can move from demonstration to deployment. We set out a path for European industries: to continue their transition to a low-carbon future, while maintaining production, investments, and employment in our continent. And we open a new front in the existential fight against climate change.”
Mads Gade, CEO of INEOS Energy Europe, said: “Greensand starts with biogenic CO₂, but its significance reaches far beyond that first step. We are ready to expand capacity to receive CO₂ from industries across Europe. Greensand is open for business, and a new European market for permanent CO₂ storage can now begin to take shape."
The project positions CO₂ transport and permanent storage as an operational part of Europe’s industrial decarbonisation infrastructure, with further expansion dependent on the development of capture projects and demand across the continent.
