Norwegian carbon capture and storage (CCS) and shipping group Northern Lights has agreed to collaborate with UK waste management company Cory on a CO2 shipment and storage project.

They will explore opportunities to ship carbon from Cory’s energy-from-waste (EfW) operations on the River Thames in London to Northern Lights’ subsea carbon storage facilities in Norway.

Northern Lights, a CCS transport and storage venture involving Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, has ordered two 7,500-cbm liquid CO2 carriers in China for delivery in 2024 to service its Oygarden transport and storage operation.

Cory and Northern Lights said their partnership could help create a blueprint for international carbon transportation and storage and the development of a global carbon trading market.

Last year, Cory unveiled plans to develop a project that could apply CCS technology to the UK’s largest single-site EfW operation, with the potential to deliver 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 savings per year by 2030, equivalent to 90% of its carbon emissions.

Northern Lights has previously told TradeWinds it will need two more 7,500-cbm vessels to meet its target of shipping 1.5m tonnes per annum of CO2 by 2025.

Shipping commercial manager Baris Dolek said many more vessels will be needed to reach its next goal of 5 mtpa for Norway’s Longship CCS project, and hundreds of ships will be needed to meet climate targets that require industrial emitters to capture and store 10 gigatonnes per annum by 2070.

Cory, which has metamorphosed from its beginnings as a Thames-based coal transport company, will use its maritime experience to ship liquefied CO2 to Northern Lights’ offshore subsea storage site at Eos well, 100km off Norway.

Dougie Sutherland, Cory’s chief executive, said the memorandum of understanding between the two groups aims for a collaboration that could “enable the accelerated deployment of CCS projects across the UK and Europe”.

It would be a vital part of progressing the UK’s net-zero ambitions and could help to consolidate a trading relationship with Norway as one of Britain’s key energy partners, as well as create an initial template for an international carbon market, he added.

Northern Lights managing director Borre Jacobsen said: “Shipping redefines the concept of access to CO2 storage” and the agreement will “require technical and commercial innovation — as well as international collaboration”.