Why the Nordics Are Becoming Europe’s Durable Carbon Removal Backbone

Date: 3 January 2026

From Ambition to Execution: Why the Nordics Are Becoming Europe’s Durable Carbon Removal Backbone

People sometimes talk about the Nordics as if the region is “good at climate”. That’s not wrong, but it’s also a little fluffy.

The more useful way to say it is this: the Nordics have unusual structural advantages for scaling durable carbon removal, especially the kind that can survive scrutiny.

The opportunity is big, and it has real numbers behind it

The Nordic blueprint report frames the global scale-up challenge clearly: IPCC-consistent pathways require roughly 7–9 GtCO2 per year by 2050. (Implement)

It also anchors where we are today: global removals are about ~2 GtCO2 per year, dominated by afforestation/reforestation and some soil practices. (Implement)

So the question isn’t “do we need removals”. The question is “where can durable removals scale fastest with credible MRV and real infrastructure”.

The economic case is not a rounding error

The report estimates that a scaled Nordic CDR ecosystem could support up to 148,000 jobs and contribute up to EUR 17 billion to GDP across Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark by 2050, framed as around ~1% of Nordic GDP. (Jobs)

This is why it’s increasingly useful to think of durable removals as industrial strategy, not just climate strategy.

Country-by-country, the Nordics form a modular supply chain

The report’s national profiles highlight just how complementary the ecosystem can be:

• Sweden: up to 47 MtCO2 per year by 2050, with GDP potential up to EUR 3.4bn. (Sweden)
• Denmark: up to 25 MtCO2 per year by 2050, with GDP potential up to EUR 3.1bn. (Denmark)
• Finland: up to 32 MtCO2 per year by 2050, with GDP potential up to EUR 2.2bn. (Finland)
• Norway: up to 46 MtCO2 per year by 2050, with GDP potential up to EUR 7.2bn. (Norway)
• Iceland: up to 9 MtCO2 per year by 2050, with GDP potential up to EUR 1.2bn. (Iceland)

Storage is the quiet superpower

Durable removals at scale depend on storage. The report highlights that the Nordics may hold around 43–59% of Europe’s technical CO2 storage potential, with Norway and Iceland holding large shares and Denmark estimated at around 16–25 Gt of storage potential. (Storage)

That infrastructure advantage matters because transport and storage sit inside the cost curve of BECCS and DACCS like a hidden tax.

The boring methods add up fast

The report summarises plausible Nordic 2050 ranges by method, including BECCS at ~50–64 MtCO2 per year, biochar at ~15–21 MtCO2 per year, and DACCS at ~14–34 MtCO2 per year (with uncertainty and electricity constraints). (Methods)

Execution is the scarce resource now. And the Nordics are quietly building the muscle memory for what execution actually looks like.

In carbon removal, precedent scales faster than promises.

Author: Thomas Munch, CEO in Pure Carbon Partners. Follow Thomas Munch on LinkedIn.