AMSTERDAM, June 8 (Reuters) - The Dutch government on
Tuesday confirmed that it has awarded 2.1 billion euros ($2.56
billion), nearly half of its 2021 annual budget for sustainable
projects, to a project aimed at capturing and storing carbon
emissions from Rotterdam Port, Europe's largest.
The "Porthos" project, being developed by an industrial
consortium that includes Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), ExxonMobil
(XOM.N), Air Liquide and Air Products, (APD.N), aims
to collect emissions from factories and refineries and store
them in empty gas fields in the North Sea.
"This will be the first large-scale CCS (Carbon Capture and
Storage) project in the European Union," said Dilan
Yesilgöz-Zegerius, State Secretary for Economic Affairs in a
statement.
The other major category of subsides awarded in the
government's 4.6 billion euro budget was for around 3,300 solar
panel projects, mostly on rooftops.
The Dutch subsidy system is designed to give extra funding
at first to more experimental and costly technologies and
projects, while the budget for more established projects -- such
as offshore wind turbines -- shrinks as they become profitable.
Home to many large industries and Europe's main seaport, the
Netherlands is among the countries with the highest emissions of
greenhouse gas per capita in Europe.
It aims to lower emissions by 55% relative to 1990 levels by
2030. Emissions were down 24.5% from 1990 levels last year.
A court in the Netherlands last month ordered Shell to
reduce its global emissions by 45% by 2030, rather than the 20%
it had been targeting, a decision Shell is appealing. The
Porthos project is included in Shell's plans.
($1 = 0.8213 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling, editing by Louise Heavens)
