The governments of Norway and Switzerland announced a new cross border durable carbon dioxide removal agreement, marking the first-ever international deal to be conducted under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.
According to Switzerland and Norway, the new agreement is aimed providing insights into regulatory frameworks, monitoring and reporting, and supporting the development of a sustainable commercial market for carbon capture and storage CCS and CDR, in addition to enabling long-term investment in climate technologies.
Norwegian Minister of Energy Terje Aasland said:
“This agreement is a pioneering step. It enables us to test how international cooperation on CCS and CDR can work in practice – with high environmental integrity and mutual benefit. Norway has more than 27 years of experience with safe and permanent CO2 storage, and we are proud to offer this as a service to European partners.”
The new deal follows an international agreement reached at the COP29 UN climate conference in November 2024, on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, aimed at establishing high integrity carbon markets, including on Article 6.2, detailing how countries will authorize carbon credit trading and how registries tracking this trading will operate to enable country-to-country carbon market trading.
According to Switzerland and Norway, the new agreement establishes a legal framework for the cross-border transport and permanent storage of CO2, as well as for the transfer of mitigation outcomes between the two countries.
Alongside the agreement, the governments announced that several companies have set up pilot activities under the new framework. Participating carbon removal and storage companies and service providers included Swiss-based Neustark and Climeworks and Norway’s Inherit and Carbon Centric, in addition to France’s ClimeFi and Germany’s Carbonfuture. Participating companies included Swiss International Air Lines, Swiss Post, SwissRe, UBS, Zürcher Kantonalbank and SIX, in addition to the City of Zurich and Industrielle Werke Basel.
Swiss Minister for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, Albert Rösti, said:
“The storage of CO2 will also be important for Switzerland on the way to the net-zero target. This technology complements our existing instruments for decarbonisation. I am therefore delighted with the agreement with Norway. It strengthens innovation, is an opportunity for the economy and strengthens the partnership between Switzerland and Norway.”
