Norwegian fertilizer and chemical company Yara announced the official inauguration of a large-scale carbon capture facility at its ammonia and fertilizer production complex in Sluiskil, Netherlands, on September 7, 2026. The facility is reported to be Europe’s largest industrial carbon capture installation, capable of capturing and liquefying up to 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
The facility is reported to operate by capturing and liquefying CO2 generated at Yara’s Sluiskil plant, transporting it by ship to Øygarden, Norway, and then permanently storing it 2,600 meters beneath the seabed. The offshore transport and storage of CO2 is reported to be handled by Norway’s Northern Lights project. Yara Sluiskil is Europe’s largest ammonia and fertilizer production complex, and this carbon capture facility is reported to be the physical realization of an agreement signed in 2023.
The official inauguration ceremony was held on September 7, 2026, reportedly attended by the prime ministers of Norway and the Netherlands and the EU Commissioner for Climate and Net Zero. Annual maximum capture and liquefaction capacity is 800,000 tonnes, with cumulative storage of approximately 12 million tonnes of CO2 projected over 15 years.
Yara is reported to have introduced the carbon capture facility at its Sluiskil plant in response to the tightening of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and decarbonization pressure on the fertilizer industry. The link to Norway’s Northern Lights project is regarded as an example of cross-border CO2 transport and storage infrastructure cooperation.
This inauguration is cited as a leading example of the European fertilizer and chemical industry translating carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology into an actual large-scale facility to help achieve carbon neutrality goals. The approach of shipping CO2 for permanent storage beneath another country’s seabed is seen as offering a cross-border CCS cooperation model that countries or companies lacking their own CCS infrastructure can utilize. Given that Norway’s Northern Lights project serves as a hub receiving and storing CO2 from multiple European countries, this case suggests that similar CO2 transport and storage agreements could increase going forward. As fertilizer and ammonia production is considered a carbon-intensive sector, successful stabilization of this CCS facility’s operation could influence decarbonization investment by other European fertilizer producers. The attendance of senior EU officials at the inauguration also illustrates that this project is being used as a showcase of EU-level climate policy implementation.
Whether the 800,000-tonne-per-year capture and liquefaction facility can stably maintain its targeted operating rate is the first point to confirm. Whether the Northern Lights project’s seabed storage capacity can additionally accommodate CO2 from other European countries or companies is also worth watching. Whether Yara extends similar CCS facilities to production complexes beyond Sluiskil is another point to watch. How the EU ETS carbon price trend affects the economics of this kind of large-scale CCS investment also remains to be confirmed.