Germany moves to enable CO2 exports for offshore storage in Denmark and the Netherlands

Germany establishes a political framework

Germany is moving toward exporting captured carbon dioxide for permanent storage beneath the seabed in Denmark and the Netherlands. According to IWR, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy signed two declarations of intent with the countries on 6 October 2026 during the first Strategic Dialogue of the Carbon Management Forum in Berlin. State Secretary Frank Wetzel signed the documents on Germany’s behalf.

The declarations are intended to support cross-border transport and storage solutions, but they do not specify export volumes, storage sites, reserved capacity or financing. It is also unclear from the published information whether they constitute the bilateral arrangements required for individual exports under Article 6 of the London Protocol. Germany expanded its legal framework through the amended Carbon Dioxide Storage and Transport Act at the end of 2025. The law supports CO2 infrastructure and geological storage while excluding use of the covered transport and storage network for CO2 from coal-fired power generation.

Available capacity remains limited

The Netherlands’ Porthos project is scheduled to begin operating no earlier than the second half of 2027 and is expected to store around 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 annually. That capacity is intended for Air Liquide, Air Products, ExxonMobil and Shell facilities in the Port of Rotterdam, leaving no announced allocation for German exporters.

Denmark officially opened the Greensand storage project on 18 September 2026. Its first commercial phase is designed for up to 400,000 tonnes per year, mainly from Danish biomethane plants. Operators cite longer-term expansion potential of 4 million to 8 million tonnes annually, but no capacity has been firmly committed to German CO2. Denmark and the Netherlands already concluded an agreement on cross-border CO2 transport in 2023, while Norway is also developing storage infrastructure for emissions captured at European industrial sites.

Transport, costs and industrial demand

CCS is primarily being considered for difficult-to-avoid emissions from industries such as cement and lime production. CO2 must be separated at the industrial plant, cleaned, compressed and prepared for transport. It can then move through dedicated pipelines or be liquefied under pressure and shipped in tanks. At the destination, pipelines carry it to wells that inject it into porous rock formations deep beneath the seabed, including depleted gas reservoirs and saline sandstone formations. The sites require geological assessment and long-term monitoring because leakage could create environmental risks.

The scale of potential German demand remains uncertain. In its CARETarget climate scenario, the German Environment Agency projects that Germany could capture and store 16.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually from fossil and other sources in 2045, plus 9.1 million tonnes from biogenic sources. These are scenario values, not agreed export volumes. The agency argues that emissions avoidance must take priority and that CCS should be restricted to residual emissions that cannot be eliminated over the long term.

Financing is another unresolved issue. Capture equipment, pipelines, ships, terminals and storage sites require substantial investment, but the declarations do not divide costs between industrial companies and the state or identify public guarantees. The ministry is preparing a Carbon Management Action Plan based partly on proposals from the Carbon Management Forum, founded in May 2026 with around 200 participants from more than 120 organizations. Four working groups cover CO2 sources, transport, storage and utilization, while a task force is developing proposals to reduce investment risk. Until binding capacity, transport and financing agreements emerge, the declarations provide political direction rather than an operational export route.