Wedoany.com Report-Dec.12, Northern Lights, the joint venture between Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies, has issued the world's first CO₂ storage certificates confirming permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide in the Aurora reservoir beneath the North Sea.

The first certified volumes were captured at Heidelberg Materials' cement plant in Brevik, Norway, shipped to the onshore receiving terminal at Øygarden, and injected via a 100 km subsea pipeline into the Aurora reservoir at a depth of 2,600 metres. Injection operations began in August.

Each certificate is linked to a specific ship cargo and records the precise amount of CO₂ stored, along with a full accounting of lifecycle emissions from capture, transport, and injection through to verification.

"Credible carbon accounting is essential to the integrity of the emerging CCS industry. It includes a precise tracking of CO₂ volumes transported and stored, as well as emissions arising across the value chain. The CO₂ accounting and measurement procedures are described in Northern Lights' Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV). Data is recorded in our digital system, which is designed as ledger for all certificates. We are proud to be able to issue the first storage certificates for our customers," said Tim Heijn, Managing Director of Northern Lights JV.

The certificates are stored on a secure digital ledger, providing transparent and independently verifiable proof that can be used for compliance reporting and carbon-credit purposes.

Earlier this month, China's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. (DSIC), part of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, delivered the liquefied CO₂ carrier Northern Phoenix to the joint venture. It is the third of four specialised vessels ordered to transport CO₂ from industrial sources outside Norway to the Øygarden terminal for permanent storage.

Phase 1 of Northern Lights offers up to 1.5 million tonnes per year of cross-border CO₂ storage capacity, making it Europe’s first commercial-scale CCS facility open to third-party customers. The project establishes a replicable model for large-scale, verifiable carbon removal across the continent.