The Dutch Council of State on Wednesday approved the start of the Porthos carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage project in the North Sea.
The mega-project, originally scheduled for 2026, has been threatened by a lawsuit filed by a Dutch environmental organization that believes the construction work itself would mean significant nitrogen oxide emissions.
“The integration plan and environmental permits for the Porthos project have been upheld. This means that the Porthos project can go ahead,” the Dutch Supreme Administrative Court said in a statement on Wednesday.
Carbon capture and storage, commonly known as CCS, involves directly capturing CO₂ emissions from industrial facilities and transporting them via pipelines to an underground reservoir.
In the case of the Porthos project, the CO₂ would be piped underwater from the port of Rotterdam to a former gas field in the North Sea that has been depleted by previous production.
According to the Council of State, the Dutch ministers for climate and spatial planning, Rob Jetten and Hugo de Jonge, have “demonstrated on the basis of objective data” that the project will have no impact on the eight surrounding Natura 2000 sites – a European network of natural areas.
“The project will lead to a temporary and limited increase in emissions,” he concluded.
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