# Cabinet adds €1.3bn in support for CO2 storage project

> The extra government support goes to the Aramis project, while Porthos, the first Dutch CO2 storage site in Rotterdam, is delayed by technical problems.

Climate · published 2026-11-07 07:35 · https://nlnow.nl/a/cabinet-adds-1-3bn-for-north-sea-co2-storage/

The cabinet is putting €1.3bn of extra government support into Aramis, a larger project in which CO2 from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium would be stored under the North Sea.

Industry is responsible for about a third of total Dutch emissions. Waste incinerators, Tata Steel, cement factories and the chemical industry could use Aramis to limit theirs.

Last year Shell and TotalEnergies pulled out of building Aramis's transport infrastructure, which will have a much longer underground pipeline than Porthos. The state-owned companies Energiebeheer Nederland (EBN) and Gasunie must now bear the whole cost.

## Porthos delayed

Porthos, the first Dutch CO2 storage project, is due to start next year in Rotterdam. The first CO2 was meant to go under the seabed at the end of this year, but several technical problems have delayed it. The former gas platform P18-A, 20 kilometres off the coast, is being converted into the injection platform.

Porthos can capture 2.5 megatonnes of CO2 a year, about 10% of all emissions in the Rotterdam port area. Most comes from Shell's refinery in Pernis, which can cut its emissions by 20%. The rest comes from ExxonMobil, Air Products and Air Liquide.

Industry's own climate-related investment was €1.09bn in 2024, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) figures show. That is down from a peak of €1.69bn in 2023 and well above the €660m of 2018.

**Industry's climate investment fell back in 2024 after a peak in 2023** (€m; source: CBS)

- 2018: 660
- 2019: 770
- 2020: 670
- 2021: 1090
- 2022: 1090
- 2023: 1690
- 2024: 1090

## Background

- **Aramis**: Aramis is a planned Dutch carbon capture and storage project that would transport CO2 by pipeline and store it in empty underground rock layers under the North Sea. It is designed to take CO2 from industry in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, so it is a cross-border project rather than a purely Dutch one. It matters because it is one of the main routes the government has chosen for storing industrial CO2 offshore instead of emitting it.
- **EBN (Energiebeheer Nederland)**: Energiebeheer Nederland is a Dutch state-owned company that takes and manages the government's shareholdings in energy projects, mainly in oil, gas and, increasingly, offshore CO2 storage and transport. Because it is owned by the state, it is used when the government itself has to invest in or carry the risk of major energy infrastructure.
- **Porthos**: Porthos is a Dutch carbon capture and storage project in the port of Rotterdam, where CO2 from industry is to be captured, transported by pipeline and injected into a depleted offshore gas field under the North Sea. The injection point is the former P18-A gas platform, about 20 kilometres off the coast, which is being converted for this purpose. It is one of the first large-scale projects in the Netherlands to store industrial CO2 permanently underground.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/