Combatting Climate Change with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) An exploratory study on the implementation of CCS in the Norwegian iron and steel sector.

2021

Today, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is considered by many as the most credible and costeffective

method of combatting global warming and meeting the climate change targets. Despite

this, CCS remains a novel technology within the Norwegian iron and steel sector. Thus, the aim

of this thesis is to analyse the macroenvironment surrounding CCS for this sector. This is done to

understand how well the Norwegian iron and steel sector is suited for CCS implementation, and

to what extent government policies are necessary in order to accelerate development and

deployment of the technology. The research questions are answered using a combination of the

PESTEL framework and environmental economic policies.

PESTEL allows for the identification of opportunities and barriers in the market. The results from

this analysis reveal that the Norwegian Government shows a high degree of commitment to CCS

through specific projects and funding. However, as the cost of CCS exceeds the cost of carbon set

by the EU ETS, CCS is not currently an economically viable abatement technology for the iron

and steel case facilities. For this reason, government policies are necessary to boost development

and deployment during a ramp up stage, until the cost of CCS falls or the price of carbon rises.

While it is clear that government involvement is required, which policies are most effective is less

obvious. Yet, based on the PESTEL findings, it appears that policy attention should be directed

towards decentralised and incentive-based policies instead of command-and-control policies.

Furthermore, policies should not be implemented in isolation. Instead, a combination of policies

is necessary to achieve the desired goals.