Frontier has signed offtake agreements with Norway’s Hafslund Celsio for the first-ever carbon capture retrofit at their waste-to-energy facility. Such plants recover energy from waste treatment, usually in the form of heat or electricity.
Hafslund Celsio is the country’s largest district heating provider and operator of the biggest waste incineration plant near Oslo.
The press release revealed that Frontier buyers will invest $31.6 million to remove 100,000 tons of CO₂ between 2029 and 2030.
Terje Aasland, Minister of Energy of Norway, said,
“I am pleased to see that the voluntary carbon removal market is adopting carbon removals in hard-to-abate sectors such as waste incineration. This kind of public-private cooperation contributes to creating a functioning market that will accelerate development of further projects in this segment both nationally and internationally.”
What’s Driving Frontier’s Carbon Capture Project?
The carbon capture project is backed by both the government and private companies. Norway’s Longship program is helping fund CO₂ capture and storage through Northern Lights. The City of Oslo is also investing money to keep the project going, and Frontier’s off-take agreements make sure there’s a steady income to make it happen.
Frontier buyers in this round include Stripe, Google, Shopify, McKinsey Sustainability, Autodesk, H&M Group, JPMorgan Chase, Workday, and Salesforce. Additional participants, through Frontier’s partnership with Watershed, include Aledade, Match Group, Samsara, SKIMS, Skyscanner, Wise, and Zendesk.
Hannah Bebbington, Head of Deployment, Frontier, said,
“Waste-to-energy retrofitted with carbon capture is a no-brainer solution for managing pre-sorted, residual waste: it generates carbon-free energy and removes CO₂ from the atmosphere. Hafslund Celsio is set to become the first to do it, charting a path for the 500 waste-to-energy facilities across Europe to remove tens of millions of tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere.”
Hafslund Celsio’s One-of-a-Kind Carbon Capture Facility
- Biogenic CO₂ from organic materials like paper and cardboard.
- Fossil CO₂ from inorganic waste such as plastics.
The retrofit will enable the plant to capture both types of emissions. The CO₂ will then be shipped to Northern Lights for permanent geological storage.
Hafslund Celsio estimates that the facility could capture 175,000 tons of biogenic CO₂ per year, plus 175,000 tons of fossil CO₂ annually. Additionally, the plant is equipped with advanced filters to keep air pollution in the city to a minimum.
While Frontier’s offtake focuses on biogenic CO₂, the fossil emissions are not part of its offtake program. Nonetheless, the project will significantly reduce total emissions from the plant.
Jannicke Gerner Bjerkås, Director CCS and Carbon Markets, Hafslund Celsio commented,
“We’re proud to be the first to take a step toward retrofitting waste-to-energy with carbon removal. Frontier buyers are not only enabling this project to get off the ground, but also validating a model that could be replicated throughout Europe, with the potential to remove tens of millions of tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere.”
Why Upgrade Waste-to-Energy Plants?
In Norway, strict waste rules are in place to transfer leftover and non-recyclable materials to waste-to-energy plants. Burning waste for energy is one of the best ways to handle such types of trash.
Without this process, waste like spoiled paper and cardboard would release methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. Instead, burning it helps generate electricity and heat while keeping emissions lower.
Furthermore, adding carbon capture is a smart and affordable way to scale up CO₂ removal from these plants. In Europe alone, around 500 waste-to-energy facilities could be upgraded, cutting emissions by hundreds of millions of tons.
Instead of constructing new carbon removal systems from scratch, retrofits improve what already exists, making the transition to cleaner energy faster and more efficient.
Capturing CO₂ Can Make a Big Impact
- Adding carbon capture to waste-to-energy plants could remove 400 million tons of CO₂ per year by 2050.
Right now, these retrofits could capture 100 million tons of CO₂ annually, with that number growing significantly in the future.
Besides extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, these upgrades also help prevent extra emissions from being released in the first place.
Cutting Methane Emissions
A report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) highlights waste-to-energy’s role in reducing methane emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential 84 times higher than CO₂ over 20 years. It says:
- Landfills account for 80% of methane emissions in the waste sector.
Thus, diverting waste from landfills to energy recovery significantly lowers methane emissions.
For example, Germany’s landfill ban on untreated organic waste in 2005, along with expanded waste-to-energy facilities, cut methane emissions from 35.5 million tons in 1990 to 7.5 million tons in 2018. This highlights how smart policies can slash emissions.
The Future of the Waste-to-Energy Carbon Capture Market
As per Precedence Research’s market analysis,
- The global waste-to-energy market is estimated at USD 51.23 billion in 2025. It is expected to reach USD 92.95 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 6.81% from 2025 to 2034.
This growth comes from more awareness of waste-to-energy benefits and the palpable impact of climate change. Countries are realizing the importance of turning non-recyclable waste into energy. Furthermore, recovering landfill gas also reduces significant emissions from the environment.
Europe Leads in Waste-to-Energy
- The market was worth USD 20.19 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 39.50 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of 6.94%.
Apart from Frontier, companies like Veolia, EQT AB, Suez, and Ramboll Group A/S are playing a key role in innovation. Strict government regulations on carbon emissions and waste disposal also ensure viable solutions. Plus, carbon taxes and landfill restrictions make waste-to-energy a smarter and more sustainable choice in Europe.
Frontier’s investment in waste-to-energy projects shows how managing waste sustainably can also combat carbon emissions. More importantly, upgrading the existing facilities with carbon capture technology makes it more efficient. By backing these innovations, Frontier is helping Norway to stay clean and green.
