Differentiated Integration and Carbon Capture and Storage Governance in Norway and the Netherlands
Author
Vouillemin, Mandana Irmela Anna Honorat
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2026
Abstract
This thesis investigates how different patterns of integration with the European Union shape the governance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Norway and the Netherlands. The starting point is that both countries share similar climate targets, industrial structures and access to North Sea storage capacity, yet they have developed fundamentally different CCS governance regimes. The thesis argues that this divergence results from the interaction between each country’s integration status within the European governance architecture and its path-dependent domestic institutional trajectory. Norway, which participates in the European internal market through the EEA Agreement without being an EU member, has built a centralized, state-led model in which the government directly finances CCS infrastructure and assumes project risk through public entities and state-owned enterprises, exemplified by Longship and Northern Lights. The Netherlands, as a full EU member state, has instead developed a cluster-based public–private model centred on the Rotterdam industrial port area, where national support schemes (SDE++), EU co-financing instruments and lessons from failed onshore projects such as Barendrecht have led to offshore solutions like Porthos. Using a most-similar systems design and a structured, focused comparison of primary legal and policy documents, the thesis applies an integrated framework of differentiated integration and multilevel governance to examine how common EU and EEA rules are filtered through national institutions and funding arrangements. It concludes that integration status has identifiable explanatory power for the observed differences in CCS governance but is not sufficient on its own, and that fiscal autonomy and public trust emerge as important enabling conditions for large-scale, state-led deployment of CCS.
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan forskellige mønstre for tilknytning til EU påvirker styringen af kulstoffangst og -lagring (CCS) i Norge og Nederlandene. Udgangspunktet er, at landene ligner hinanden med hensyn til klimaambitioner, industrielle strukturer og adgang til lagringsmuligheder i Nordsøen, men alligevel har opbygget grundlæggende forskellige styringsregimer for CCS. Afhandlingen argumenterer for, at denne forskel udspringer af samspillet mellem hvert lands integrationsstatus i den europæiske styringsarkitektur og de historisk betingede nationale institutionelle udviklingsforløb. Norge, som deltager i det indre marked gennem EØS-aftalen uden at være EU-medlem, har udviklet en centraliseret, statslig model, hvor staten direkte finansierer infrastruktur og bærer risikoen i store projekter som Longship og Northern Lights. Nederlandene, som er fuldgyldigt EU-medlem, har derimod etableret en klyngebaseret, offentlig-privat model med udgangspunkt i havneindustriklyngen i Rotterdam, hvor nationale støtteordninger (SDE++), EU-midler og erfaringerne fra mislykkede onshore-projekter (Barendrecht m.fl.) har resulteret i offshore-løsninger som Porthos. Med et most-similar systems-design og en struktureret, fokuseret sammenligning af primære juridiske og politiske dokumenter anvender afhandlingen et integreret teoretisk rammeværk baseret på differentieret integration og multilevel governance for at analysere, hvordan fælles EU- og EØS-regler filtreres gennem nationale institutioner og finansieringsmekanismer. Afhandlingen konkluderer, at integrationsstatus har en tydelig forklaringskraft for forskellene i CCS-styring, men ikke er tilstrækkelig i sig selv, og at faktorer som finanspolitisk handlefrihed og offentlig tillid fremstår som vigtige forudsætninger for storstilet, statsligt ledet udrulning af CCS.
[This abstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]