Expected value‑added, employment, and climate impacts of an offshore Carbon Capture Storage system in Denmark

Abstract: The economic and environmental co-benefits of offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure remain largely unquantified at the project level. This study provides the first economy-wide appraisal of a planned Danish offshore CCS system—the BIFROST project—which repurposes existing North Sea hydrocarbon pipelines and depleted reservoirs for permanent geological CO₂ storage. A bottom-up cost inventory covering liquefaction, shipping, pipeline transport, and offshore injection, validated through semi-structured interviews with industry experts, is integrated into a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model to trace direct and indirect effects on value added (VA), employment, and greenhouse gas emissions across global supply chains. 

Over a 28-year, three-phase lifetime storing approximately 190 Mt of CO₂, the project generates €1.5–1.6 billion in global VA and 110,000–117,000 job-years, of which €0.4–0.5 billion and 14,000–24,000 job-years accrue to Denmark. Upstream and on-site CO₂ emissions (Scopes 2 and 3) represent 9.3–10.5% of the volume permanently stored; sourcing liquefaction power from low-carbon grids emerges as the most effective lever for reducing this ratio. Two transport sequences are compared: Denmark's domestic returns are maximised when pipeline transport is adopted as early as possible and liquefaction facilities are sited domestically. 

These findings indicate that repurposed offshore infrastructure can deliver simultaneous climate mitigation and regional economic gains when transport sequencing, plant siting, and fiscal policy are jointly optimised.