Establishing the First Carbon Chain

On 18 September, in Esbjerg, Denmark, His Majesty King Frederik X of Denmark was joined by INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen, Danish Minister for Finance Peter Hummelgaard, INEOS leadership and other European political and industry leaders at the First Carbon Chain event to officially inaugurate the EU’s first full-scale CO₂ storage site in operation.

The event comes at a critical moment for EU industry, as energy-intensive sectors face rising costs, global competition and growing energy security concerns, amid the EU's own targets to capture and store 50 million tonnes of CO₂ annually by 2030, rising to 250–280 million tonnes by 2040. Greensand is the first project in the EU to show what that infrastructure looks like in practice.

Against this backdrop, the invitation-only First Carbon Chain event brought together leading European policymakers and industry representatives to discuss the role CCS can play in Europe’s future industrial and climate policy in the Port of Esbjerg.

Relive the event by watching the moment the EU's first full-scale CO2 storage site was put into operation and the speeches leading up to it below.

Watch First Carbon Chain from beginning to end with the full ceremony and summit recordings below.