DNV to certify UK's Northern Endurance Partnership CO₂ transport network

DNV has been appointed Independent Certifier for the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), the CO₂ transport and storage project underpinning the UK's East Coast Cluster. Selected by NEP, an international joint venture, with approval from the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), DNV will verify that the project's construction and operation comply with the carbon dioxide transport and storage licence (CO2 T&S Licence) granted by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

NEP will transport CO₂ captured from industrial emitters in Teesside for permanent storage beneath the southern North Sea. DNV's scope spans the full transport chain, from receipt of CO₂ at the compression facility, through conditioning to dense phase, to the offshore pipeline and injection system. The certification process will establish the documented evidence required to demonstrate compliance and support a safe transition from construction to operation.

The Independent Certifier function is a new regulatory requirement for the UK's carbon capture and storage (CCS) sector, providing objective, evidence‑based assurance that nationally significant CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure meets its licence obligations before entering operation. Its introduction aligns with wider European and UK trends that emphasize the need for robust governance around CCS deployment. This aligns with DNV's latest Energy Transition Outlook (ETO) forecast, which identifies Europe as one of the world's two largest CCS regions by 2060, responsible for 23% of all captured and stored CO₂ globally – further highlighting the strategic importance of establishing enabling infrastructure with robust governance and operational integrity in early projects.

"Independent certification provides regulators and project partners with confidence that complex CO₂ transport infrastructure has been delivered in accordance with its licence requirements," said Hari Vamadevan, Senior Vice President and Regional Director for the UK & Ireland, Energy Systems at DNV. "For NEP, this means verifying design integrity, construction quality and commissioning readiness, so that when CO₂ first flows, the system performs as intended. Our role is to provide objective, evidence-based assurance grounded in decades of North Sea verification experience and technical expertise in CO₂ pipeline integrity and risk management."

“Independent certification plays a crucial role in the delivery of the UK’s first and largest CO₂ transportation and storage asset, helping to provide confidence that this nationally significant infrastructure is being developed to the highest standards of safety, quality and technical assurance,” said Rich Denny, Managing Director, Northern Endurance Partnership. “DNV brings extensive experience in carbon capture and storage projects internationally, and that expertise will be invaluable as we continue to work collaboratively to support the safe and successful delivery of the Northern Endurance Partnership.” 

DNV brings extensive CCS experience to the Independent Certifier role, including leadership of joint industry projects, CO₂ testing and validation at its Spadeadam Research & Development Facility, and decades of independent verification work in the UK oil and gas sector. Its technical standards for CO₂ transport and storage are widely applied across the industry, supporting robust assessment of integrity, safety and operability.

Infrastructure such as NEP will play a central role in supporting industrial decarbonization at scale. As Europe advances toward becoming one of the world's most significant CCS regions, the UK's first Track‑1 projects will set the benchmark for how CCS infrastructure is built and operated.