Business Region North Denmark

Why are you involved in CO2Vision?
As a business policy collaboration of the 11 North Jutland municipalities and the North Denmark Region, it is BRN's main task to identify and cultivate cooperation opportunities around strategic initiatives that will benefit all Northern Jutland. CO2Vision is a good example of this.

For BRN, CO2Vision has always been about securing the broad anchoring in Northern Jutland - east to west, north to south - and rallying all of Northern Jutland around the effort. It has been that way,ever since a North Jutland business beacon had to be defined as an offshoot of the business promotion reform, and until our now adding more and more pieces to the puzzle, in order to eventually make Northern Jutland the epicenter for CO2 capture, use and storage. In addition, Northern Jutland is strongest when everyone pulls in the same direction. BRN guarantees that.

What do you offer in CO2Vision?
We like to see ourselves as an actor who helps to tie the common thread and create coherence through all the links. Our role is threefold; we are political interest representatives, we are coordinating and we are the secretariat for the consortium and the steering group.

In addition to the primary activities in the projects with testing and demonstration of the necessary technologies, competence development, business development and analysis work, intensive work is done on a strategic and political level to secure the framework for the development of CO2Vision. It is both aimed at providing the necessary, continued funding and removing any barriers. As a representative of a united North Jutland, BRN brings a weighty voice to the table, whether it happens at political meetings or in the dialogue with relevant agencies and ministries.

Through our coordinating role, we help to avoid parallel activities – there is no reason for us all to invent the deep dish. At the same time, we create coherence for other relevant efforts outside CO2Vision's auspices. This could, for example, be efforts such as the development and implementation of the municipal climate action plans, the work to make North Jutland self-sufficient with renewable energy in 2040 and the continuous focus on future-proofing and expanding the green infrastructure.

By providing secretarial services for the consortium and steering group, we are constantly involved in ensuring the flow of information through the chains, aligning messages and creating momentum.

What do you expect to come out of having been part of CO2Vision?
For BRN, CO2Vision is about leaving a significant imprint in Northern Jutland – both in the development of CO2 capture, use and storage as a completely new business area with international potential, and in the efforts to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and thus also the climate impact.

If we can help transform CO2 from a climate evil into a valuable resource, it will therefore be an epoch-making turning point in the climate fight, while at the same time creating fertile ground for a green business adventure.

In a regional context, we expect that a lot of North Jutland companies, educational institutions and organizations will be able to participate in the value chain that must be created in order to commercialize CO2 capture, use and storage. From those who develop and scale the necessary technologies and those who ensure that the CO2 can be transported in pipes or on trucks and ships, to those who give CO2 new life in the manufacture of new products, such as green fuels, and those who leads the CO2 we cannot use into the underground.

What has it given you to be part of CO2Vision?
First of all, it has given enormous pride. In an ultra-short time, a number of visionary and courageous North Jutland companies and organizations have come together to create something big across sectors. They have all shown commitment and energy. It confirms that North Jutland has a unique collaborative DNA, where we draw on each other's strengths and create concrete change together.

In addition, our participation in CO2Vision has strengthened BRN's collaboration with existing partners and opened the door to several new ones – locally, regionally and nationally.

Ultimately, the work and milestones in the CO2Vision collaboration bring BRN closer to fulfilling its vision of creating sustainable growth and development in a shared North Jutland.

It is absolutely crucial that North Jutland makes its mark on the climate agenda. On many parameters, we have the prerequisites to make a significant and noticeable difference, and that obliges. In addition, it is no longer a trade secret that companies that take an active part in green conversion and create sustainable business models have a competitive advantage.

With North Jutland's eyes, CO2Vision can bring the whole of North Jutland to the forefront of the next green wave - with growth, employment and all the associated gains - while we contribute positively to meeting national and international climate goals.