Chapter 3
Net-Zero Scenario
The circularity levers described in the previous chapter can drive a ~38% reduction in GHG emissions compared to 2020 by 2040, but this still leaves ~700,000 tonnes of system emissions remaining in 2040. As a result, supply side abatement levers and technologies are required to mitigate residual system emissions and put the Norwegian plastic system on a net-zero trajectory.
Our analysis considers all emissions associated with plastics put in the market in Norway. Because the majority of emissions are generated in production and at end-of-life, the bulk of emissions considered are international. Therefore, reducing these emissions will require regional cooperation with other countries, mainly by switching feedstock source and energy source and capturing residual production emissions.
Additionally, incineration emissions can be abated domestically and regionally through the application of carbon capture and storage (CCS). This can reduce system emissions by 570,000 tonnes, leaving approximately 130,000 tonnes of emissions from the Norwegian plastic system by 2040, a 90% reduction compared to the baseline scenario and putting the system on a trajectory to reach net-zero by the early 2040s.
Circularity levers can get the system half way to net-zero by 2040
Circularity has the potential to remove about half of the emissions from the plastic system in scope by 2040, and lead to a net 38% reduction vs 2020 emissions. Circularity is the fastest, most economic, most environmentally friendly and resource efficient way to abate the Norwegian plastic system and should be prioritised and optimised for its range of broader social, economic and environmental benefits beyond GHG reduction.
However, due to long lifetimes of some durable plastic categories (i.e. construction and automotive), 8 million tonnes of plastic will also reside in in-use stock in 2040 that – unless either downstream system circularity is increased or incineration emissions are abated – will result in ~26 million tonnes of CO2eq in additional emissions when it reaches end-of-life and is (mostly) incinerated with energy recovery. This is equivalent to over half of Norway’s total annual emissions today.
In addition, significant emissions (~700,000 tonnes of CO2eq) from production and end-of-life continue to be produced by the highly circular system in 2040 (see Exhibit 28). Therefore, significant supply side emissions reduction strategies and technologies are required to abate the cumulative 21 million tonnes of CO2eq that will still be emitted by the plastic system between now and 2040, even if circularity levers are applied.
EXHIBIT 28
Circularity reduces GHG emissions by 38% vs 2020, leaving 700kt of emissions p.a. in the Norwegian system by 2040, predominantly from Production and Incineration
“Circularity levers can produce only ~38% reduction in GHG emissions compared to 2020. Therefore supply side emissions reduction strategies and technologies are required to put the Norwegian plastic system on a net-zero trajectory’
Approach to abating the post-circularity emissions in the Norwegian plastic system
Norway has committed to a 55% reduction in GHGs compared to 1990s levels by 2030 and a 90-95% reduction by 2050 (not net-zero), as per its Nationally Defined Commitments (NDC) submission to the UNFCCC41 in alignment with the Paris Agreement. Its net-zero transition is rated as “Almost Sufficient” on Climate Action Tracker42, with national emissions projected to be 41 million tonnes of CO2eq by 2030, 21% below 1990s levels. However, further policy interventions and transition efforts will be required to hit its Nationally Determined Commitments.
In addition to circularity, three main supply-side technology strategies can be combined to abate emissions along the plastics value chain (see Exhibit 29):
Switching feedstock: Moving from almost exclusively fossil carbon to use around 80% non-fossil carbon sources.
Switching energy source: Electrifying processes where possible and use of green hydrogen for some high temperature heat. Most energy will be required for the synthesis of green hydrogen as feedstock, with only 10-15% of electricity used directly.
Capturing emissions: Capturing CO2 emissions from production processes or waste incineration and either utilising them (carbon capture and utilisation – CCU) to produce methanol or permanently storing them under the ground (carbon capture and storage – CCS).
EXHIBIT 29
Three supply-side strategies to abate residual emissions along the value chain
“Norway’s net-zero transition is rated as “Almost Sufficient” on the Climate Action Tracker. Further policy interventions and transition efforts will be required to hit its UNFCCC Nationally Determined Commitments.”
Production abatement in the Net-Zero Scenario
Approach to production abatement:
Norway imports as much primary plastics as it exportsr and is a net importer of non-primary plastics. Given the net trade balance and abatement of the Rafnes stream cracker being out of scope of this analysis, we have assumed all plastics used in Norway (in scope for this project) have a pan-EU origin. Thus, we have leveraged the detailed pan-European chemicals and plastics net-zero pathways generated in Planet Positive Chemicals (PPC) report to inform the Net-Zero Scenario. Due to Norway’s status as a highly developed economy with sovereign wealth, strong governance, net-zero policy ambition, and leadership in sector transition, we have selected the most ambitious, fastest abatement scenario discussed within the analysis as the most appropriate level of ambition.
The Net-Zero Scenarios assumes a world that is moving the chemicals and plastics industry towards net-zero at the fastest techno-economic rates practicalt. After 2030, no more plants using fossil as either feedstocks or fuels are constructed, assuming that the world is intensifying its transition efforts, increasing stranded asset risks, and policy/societal pressures on the plastics industry regarding licence to operate. The model assesses around 50 technologies across 10 different basic chemicals that form the basis of most plastics.
In this Net Zero Scenario, the highest scope 1-3 GHG abating technologies available at a given time are constructed, even if they are more expensive compared to alternative available technologies. This strongly favours technologies that use carbon feedstock originating from atmospheric sources for production, namely biomass or direct air capture. The outcome of this scenario is represented in Exhibit 30, showing the production technology mix in 2040 between the Current Commitments Scenario and the Net-Zero Scenario.
Steam crackers are central to chemicals production today, responsible for around 50% production volume in 2020 (excluding ammonia). They will continue to play a critical role in the future for olefins (ethylene and propylene for PP and PE production, as well as butadiene) production, but abatement via retrofitting of Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS), low-carbon hydrogen, and alternative feedstocks (bio-oil and pyrolysis-oil) will be employed in roughly equal shares. Bioethanol and green methanol will become critical feedstocks for olefins production. Both these feedstocks can be produced from sustainable carbon sources and can be transported via ship.
To bring about the implementation of this production abatement strategy, Norway needs to support the abatement of European plastics production via international policy action, cross-border financing, and commercial off taker agreements, in essence committing to pay for the green-premium on low-emissions plastics production. Furthermore, it may consider promoting greenfield low-emissions production in countries with abundant, affordable renewable energy sources thus low-cost green hydrogen for feedstocku, frequently found in the Global South.
EXHIBIT 30
Production technology mix
% of chemicals produced
End-of-life Abatement in the Net-Zero Scenario
Incineration is the predominant end-of-life destination in the Norwegian market. Even following the implementation of high levels of circularity, incineration volumes are only reduced by 30%, to 77,000 tonnes by 2040, while still generating 210,000 tonnes of emissions. The most capex efficient route to abatement will likely be to retrofit the regional incinerator portfolio with CCS.
As the map in Exhibit 31 shows, the incinerator portfolio capacity across Norway and Sweden is dense and situated at points of waste generation close to urban populations. Therefore, the capacity is geographically concentrated in the south of Norway and Sweden within a 500 km radius. This makes CO₂ transport to the point of storage less of a logistical and regulatory barrier,
given that most incinerators are close to the coastline, making rollout of an interconnected pipeline network on-land coupled with shipping captured CO₂ emissions a possible route, although not without significant challenges. Notably, circularity levers reduce the disposal volumes such that there is no need to export waste for incineration (where there are no technical barriers), allowing Norway to rely on its existing domestic incinerator capacity.
Norway is pioneering a game-changing end-of-life abatement technology at the Klemetsrud Incinerator and Longship / Northern Lights CCS project. This aims to demonstrate at industrial scale, for the first time, a commercial model by which plastic waste systems globally could be abated in future.
EXHIBIT 31
Overview of incinerator
portfolio
Hafslund Oslo Celsio
Klemetsrud Incinerator and CCS Project
The Celsio plant will be the world’s first waste-to-energy plant with carbon capture as part of a full value chain with transport and permanent storage. From 2026 Celsio will be capturing and liquefying 400 000 metric tonnes CO2 per year. The liquid CO2 will be transported by non-emission trucks from the plant to an intermediate storage facility at port, where Northern Lights JV, Equionor, Shell and Total Energies, will collect and transport the CO2 by specially designed tankers to a receiving terminal on the west coast of Norway. From the terminal Northern Lights will inject the CO2 into a geological storage reservoir, 100 km out in the North sea and 2600 meters below the seabed.
This strategy allows the CO2 to be permanently stored and prevented from re-entering the atmosphere. In full operation, Celsio will have overcome two major technical barriers facing the abatement of plastic waste incineration:
i) carbon capture on an incinerator’s exhaust pipe, and
ii) transport and sequestration of the CO2.
Following two successful pilots using amine-based capture technology, this project has demonstrated it is possible to capture more than 95 % of CO2 in the flue gas and have full control of the amine process.
The total cost of the project is NOK 9,1 billion, including 10 years of operation (noting the premium associated with pioneering this innovation), with 100% funding secured since June 2022.
Carbon negativity has been cited as part of the project’s ambition, given that ~200,000 tonnes of emissions to be sequestered are from municipal waste of biogenic origin (not referring to its plastic waste feedstock today, which is of fossil origin).
The use of biogenic and direct air captured feedstocks in the future system for virgin plastic production, as assumed in the Net-Zero Scenario, make this project a possible early demonstrator of the Norwegian plastic system’s potential to pass through net-zero and become carbon negative. This could make the Norwegian plastic system a climate solution after 2043, contributing back to the carbon budget while still providing plastic utility to the Norwegian economy in a dual value proposition to society and the planet.
Circularity is still essential to avoid high dependency on CCS rollout for incinerators given its lack of commercial of scale today, as if CCS fails to scale then end-of-life emissions would more than double by 2040. Given the advanced Technology Readiness Level (TRL8-9) of this end-of-life solution, it has been assumed that CCS is subsequently rolled out to the incinerator portfolio across the region progressively over the timeseries, aligned with the production abatement trajectory.
Subsequently, 90% of emissions can be removed from the Norwegian Plastics System through current commitments, circularity and supply side abatement technologies by 2040 (see Exhibit 32), placing it on a trajectory to net-zero by 2043.
EXHIBIT 32
Circularity and Supply Side Abatement Technologies can reduce GHG Emissions in the Norwegian Plastics System by 90% by 2040
In addition to this approach to end of life abatement, minimising export of waste is a “no-regret” move to avoid greenfield growth of waste management infrastructure internationally. Waste transport abroad is problematic as it orientates towards locations where it is most economical to depose of, usually with the weakest control and capability to process it43.
Furthermore, value chain control and transparency diminishes as soon as the waste leaves the country. The Basel Convention is now seeking to restrict the transport of lower-quality plastic waste outside of OECD countries. This supports a trend towards the domestication of waste to avoid passing responsibility for its generation onto other countries, thus increasing domestic pressure to drive higher levels of system circularity.
Recommendations
- Create an enabling international policy environment for low emission production: policy makers should evaluate the strategic, economic, social and environmental advantages of supporting international abated production via trade policy and off-taker agreements, both in regionally and as a development approach in the Global South.
- Abate end-of-life emissions: Implement a programme to apply carbon capture to all incinerators in the region as soon as economically and politically possible, likely for storage. Conduct further assessment into the potential for CCU and the treatment of waste carbon as a scarce resource.
Economics & Jobs
Increasing circularity reduces the amount of net capex required to build the system by ~NOK 0.6 billion compared to scaling up the linear system infrastructure. As discussed, this is because a smaller system is required overall.
However, the Net-Zero Scenario still requires an additional NOK 5.6 billion of direct capital to abate the residual emissions of the circular system, predominantly needed for production (45%) and end-of-life (28%) abatement infrastructurev. It is worth noting that this does not include the wider costs of scaling out supply side abatement technologies, such as green hydrogen production or CCUS capabilities, which will often be shared between other sectors.
This represents a total cumulative investment of NOK 10.8 billion, slightly more than double the capex required for an unabated circular system, which represents a non-trivial increase in transition costs. However, estimatesw suggest that the impact on end user products across sectors will be only 1-3%.
EXHIBIT 33
The Net-Zero Scenario requires large capital deployment into higher risk, more nascent technologies
Cumulative system capex (2020-2040)
EXHIBIT 34
The Net-Zero Scenario drives new job creation and a more diversified mix of employment opportunities
System employment in 2020 and 2040
The analysis reveals a similar number of jobs in the Net-Zero Scenario compared to the 2020 baseline but with significant shifts from production to circularity. About 33% of new roles will be through the application of circularity strategies, the majority in recycling.
Jobs in primary plastics production will decrease by ~24%, (noting many of these may be abroad). A just transition needs to ensure that the legacy fossil employee base is adequately reskilled to participate in the new low-emissions economy. Notably, should Norway choose to domesticate its plastics value chain, this offers an employment opportunity to the highly skilled labour force currently dedicated to the declining oil & gas sector. Care must be taken to ensure jobs quality is maintained during the transition to new business models.