Innovative carbon capture and utilisation transform industrial decarbonisation efforts in Nordic industries

Biogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) and carbon capture utilisation (CCU) technologies are rapidly emerging as pivotal elements in the industrial decarbonisation landscape, particularly across sectors reliant on biomass and heavy industry emissions. Recent pioneering initiatives in the forest and cement industries illustrate the potential to transform emissions from challengingly high-pollution processes into valuable assets.

In the forest industry, which has historically left biogenic CO₂ , derived from biomass processes , largely unexploited, the Finnish Metsä Group’s carbon capture pilot at its Rauma pulp mill marks a seminal advancement. Launched in June 2025 in collaboration with Andritz, the pilot captures approximately one ton of CO₂ daily from pulp mill flue gases, representing the first application of carbon capture in this sector. Currently in an exploratory phase, the project is assessing energy consumption, flue gas cleaning requirements, and carbon dioxide purity to inform future scale-up plans. If successful, Metsä Group envisions developing a facility capable of capturing between 30,000 and 100,000 tons annually, over 100 times the pilot’s current capacity. Nonetheless, scaling these operations will necessitate viable end-market demand and partnerships with industries that can integrate the captured CO₂ into their production processes, aligning economic feasibility across the value chain.

CCU technology holds unique promise for the forest sector due to the biogenic origin of the carbon involved. Unlike fossil-derived CO₂, biogenic carbon is part of the natural carbon cycle and can be reused without increasing net greenhouse gas emissions. When combined with green hydrogen, biogenic CO₂ can serve as a feedstock for synthetic fuels such as methanol, methane, and jet fuel, thereby supporting decarbonisation in sectors like aviation, which are notoriously difficult to electrify. Additionally, carbon utilisation has applications in producing fertilizers, plastics, and even carbon-negative concrete products. Experts such as Professor Kristian Melin from LUT University underscore that biogenic carbon dioxide could catalyse an industrial revolution connecting the forest industry with the emerging hydrogen economy, a crucial link as the EU emphasizes sustainable aviation through ambitious mandates like the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation, targeting millions of tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel consumption by 2030.

Meanwhile, the cement industry is witnessing a groundbreaking transition through carbon capture and storage (CCS) rather than utilisation. Cement production accounts for roughly 7–8% of global CO₂ emissions, with a substantial portion of these originating from process emissions during limestone calcination, a source notoriously resistant to efficiency improvements alone. Heidelberg Materials’ Norcem Brevik plant in Norway officially opened its industrial-scale CCS facility in June 2025, capturing approximately 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, which represents about half of the plant’s emissions. This captured CO₂ is transported to the Norwegian west coast and stored permanently beneath the seabed as part of the nation’s Longship climate initiative.

The Brevik CCS project epitomises a complex integration of chemical scrubbing technology, cryogenic CO₂ liquefaction, heat recovery systems, and high-pressure pipeline logistics, all coordinated by teams logging over 1.2 million hours of technical work. Its success has set a crucial global benchmark for CCS in the cement sector, demonstrating operational resilience combined with environmental ambition. The facility also underpins Heidelberg’s offering of evoZero, a near-zero emissions cement product which has reportedly sold out its entire 2025 production, a signal of rapid market acceptance for decarbonised construction materials.

The momentum extends beyond Norway. Denmark’s Aalborg Portland is advancing its own CCS plans under Project Greensand, aiming to store CO₂ in depleted North Sea oil fields and achieve a reduction of 1.5 million tonnes annually by 2030. In the UK, Heidelberg Materials announced plans for a second CCS facility at its Padeswood cement plant in Wales, expected to capture nearly 800,000 tonnes annually, further deepening carbon capture capacity in the construction sector.

Complementing these capture efforts is the operational readiness of CO₂ storage infrastructure. Norway’s newly completed Northern Lights storage facility, developed by Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies, offers onshore liquefied CO₂ storage and offshore subsea sequestration, ready to receive captured gases starting in 2025. This network completes a vital link in the carbon management value chain, enabling permanent containment of industrial emissions previously considered difficult to mitigate.

Together, these initiatives mark significant strides in industrial decarbonisation, illustrating how both capture utilisation and storage strategies can be tailored to sector-specific challenges and opportunities. The forest industry’s exploration of CCU aligns with emerging green hydrogen economies and synthetic fuel markets, while the cement industry’s large-scale CCS developments demonstrate scalable, immediate solutions to embedded process emissions.

As government policies, such as those from the EU focused on sustainable fuel mandates, coalesce with technological advances and commercial adoption, a new industrial paradigm is forming. Nordic countries, equipped with abundant renewable energy, forest resources, and technological expertise, are well-positioned to lead this transition, turning emissions liabilities into valuable industrial assets and progressively steering heavy industries toward net-zero futures.