Sir Keir Starmer is visiting Norway to announce plans for a green energy deal with the country before attending a defence summit in Estonia on a two-day trip to Northern Europe.
The Prime Minister will travel to a cross-border carbon capture site and meet his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store to discuss the agreement, which Number 10 said both leaders aim to sign in spring 2025.
They are expected to hold “sky-lateral” talks while they fly to Tallinn later on Monday for a gathering of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a military coalition of several European countries.
Sir Keir said the energy partnership with Norway, which has a border with Russia, would help to boost growth and protect against spikes in international energy prices such as those which followed President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It will harness the UK’s unique potential to become a world leader in carbon capture – from the North Sea to the coastal south – reigniting industrial heartlands and delivering on our plan for change,” he said.
“Our partnership with Norway will make the UK more energy secure, ensuring we are never again exposed to international energy price spikes and the whims of dictators like Putin.”
The visit comes after the first projects in Britain to take carbon out of the atmosphere were given the go-ahead in the north-east of England, with BP and Norwegian energy firm Equinor confirming investments on Tuesday.
Floating offshore wind farm Green Volt, which is run by Norwegian-based firm Vargronn and Scottish-based company Flotation Energy, has also announced front-end engineering and design contracts to help the project.
Delighted to announce that, along with our joint venture partner Vårgrønn, we have selected Aberdeen, Scotland as the strategic and operational headquarters for our £2.5bn Green Volt project. For more, see https://t.co/6j2mX4W8yY #Energytransition #Offshorewind #Floatingwind pic.twitter.com/peiyr8eo0T
— FlotationEnergy (@FlotationEnergy) October 11, 2024
It is estimated the plant will deliver power to about one million homes when it starts operating in 2028.
Mr Gahr Store said: “We need co-operation, knowledge and innovation to better equip us to face the future.
“The partnership with the UK will be important to facilitate more green jobs both in Norway and the UK, and for advancing the green transition.
“We work closely with the UK in a wide range of areas. We have co-operated in the field of carbon capture and storage for more than 20 years, and further strengthening our co-operation with the UK will help us to cut emissions and create green jobs,” the Norwegian premier added.
“It is important to show our partners what Norway can bring to the table in our joint efforts to achieve our common goals.”
Downing Street said the two countries have also committed to work together to identify challenges to carbon storage projects in the North Sea and to “develop a bilateral agreement or arrangement on cross-border transport of CO2 under the London Protocol”.
The whistlestop tour will see the Prime Minister join leaders from the Netherlands, Latvia, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Lithuania to discuss JEF’s activities in a changing security landscape.
Announcing its formation in 2014, the UK Government described the alliance as “a pool of high-readiness, adaptable forces that is designed to enhance the UK’s ability to respond rapidly, anywhere in the world, with like-minded allies.”
The group has said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased its importance in “enabl(ing) regional security” for its members.
