Storing CO₂ Beneath the German North Sea? GEOSTOR Research Consortium Publishes Interim Report

“The main challenges currently lie in developing and implementing measures to prevent potential leakage from the storage formations. In addition, noise generated during activities such as site exploration and monitoring must be minimized. Furthermore, solutions must be found for foreseeable conflicts of use - such as with offshore wind farms - and these must be appropriately considered within the framework of marine spatial planning,“ explains GEOSTOR coordinator Prof. Dr. Klaus Wallmann from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.

In addition, Germany's national legal framework must be updated to permit offshore CO₂ storage in the German North Sea seaward of coastal areas. Plans for such reforms are currently under discussion as part of coalition negotiations in Germany.

A Comprehensive Overview of Offshore CO₂ Storage

A total of 36 experts from eight research and partner institutions contributed to the new interim report. Their goal was to present the research methods and results from 2021 to 2024 in a way that is accessible to policymakers, professionals, and the interested public.

“Storing CO₂ beneath the North Sea is a controversial topic in Germany. This makes it all the more important for us as a research association to communicate our results in a transparent and comprehensible way. For this reason, we have written this report in German and summarized all the core results in an easily understandable form in the introduction,” says Klaus Wallmann.

Assessing Storage Capacities, Associated Risks, Use Conflicts, and Possible Solutions

The report comprises 15 chapters covering a wide range of topics related to geological CO₂ storage: from static and dynamic storage capacities and potential risks to marine ecosystems and offshore infrastructure, to newly developed monitoring systems, projected costs of selected storage scenarios, necessary legislative changes, and anticipated conflicts that need to be solved if CO₂ is to be stored under the already intensively used North Sea.

The full report, written in German, is available for free download at: www.cdrmare.de/morematerials

Background:

CDRmare is a research mission of the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM). Its full title is “Marine Carbon Sinks as a Pathway to Decarbonisation.” Launched in summer 2021, the mission originally brought together six research consortia to explore promising approaches for marine CO₂ removal and storage—such as ocean alkalinisation, the restoration of vegetated coastal ecosystems, artificial upwelling, and offshore CCS. These methods are being evaluated for their potential, risks, and interactions within a transdisciplinary assessment framework. In August 2024, CDRmare entered its second three-year funding phase with five research consortia. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the science ministries of the northern federal states: Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein.

Publication:

Wallmann, K. und das GEOSTOR-Konsortium: CO2-Speicherung unter der deutschen Nordsee? Ergebnisse aus drei Jahren Forschung, pp. 1-142, DOI 10.3289/CDRmare.49

Contact:

Sina Löschke, Pressereferentin CDRmare, Tel: 02353 70 71 527; media@cdrmare.de