Project for the inter-regional transport of CO₂ in the Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Normandy and Île-de-France regions

NaTran's inter-regional CO₂ transport project concerns the Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Normandy and Ile-de-France regions. The future infrastructure will link the main industrial areas in these regions to Dunkerque.

The CO₂ captured by manufacturers, waste managers and operators of biomass heating plants, incinerators and methanisation facilities will be transported via underground pipelines to CO₂ recovery sites and to the Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque. There, thanks to NaTran's DKHARBO project and the partnership with Equinor (a Norwegian public company, a pioneer in CO₂ storage in Europe) and its CO₂ Highway Europe project, the CO₂ can be transported by underwater pipeline to permanent geological storage sites in the North Sea, in Norway.

With a total length of around 1,000 km, the network will cover the needs of sites in the four French regions. Ultimately, it could transport up to 10 million tonnes of CO₂ per year, of fossil and biogenic origin, or 13% of emissions from French manufacturing industry. It will form a backbone linking a large part of the northern half of France which, in addition to decarbonising the region, will be a factor in attracting industry and creating synergies between the various regions it crosses.

In addition to the main industrial hubs, waste recovery sites and biomass heating plants covered by this call for expressions of interest, the project is designed as a scalable infrastructure, enabling sequenced connection of CO₂ emitting sites and accelerating their decarbonisation. The proposed transport network has already been the subject of a pre-feasibility study by NaTran. This is based on potential studies carried out jointly with manufacturers or financed by the ZIBaC (Low Carbon Industrial Areas) scheme.

CCUS technology (for carbon capture, utilisation and storage) is a response to so-called fatal CO₂ emissions, i.e. those that are intrinsically linked to industrial activities and therefore cannot be avoided.

In this respect, CCUS projects represent a solution to the challenge of industrial decarbonisation, complementing the actions already implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this way, they are helping to ensure the long-term future of these strategic activities for the regions.

The capture, storage and recovery of CO₂ has been identified by the European Union as a strategic option for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. For its part, France stated in 2024 that the CCUS technology targeted residual emissions from industry.

NaTran is participating in the energy transition and is committed to the development of CO₂ networks in France. The company has two other flagship projects in France: GOCO₂ in Western France, alongside a consortium of industrialists and adjacent operators, and DKHARBO, in the Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque, in direct collaboration with Norwegian partner operator Equinor.

Through this call for expressions of interest, NaTran aims to identify market needs and the economic interest that such an infrastructure could represent for manufacturers and CO₂ emitters and users in general.

More specifically, NaTran is seeking to confirm the volume prospects for emitting sites and the prospects for CO₂ recovery. This call for expression of interest should also make it possible to identify all the stakeholders involved, including those more dispersed (e.g. methanisation sites, local industries) located outside the industrial hubs of Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Normandy and Île-de-France.

In addition to industrial production sites with CO₂ capture projects (fossil or biogenic), this call for expressions of interest is also aimed at developers of CO₂ recovery projects, particularly for e-fuels. Lastly, this call is aimed at developers of CO₂ logistics solutions that can be connected to the future transport infrastructure to expand the beneficiaries in the regions: developers of multimodal CO₂ terminals, transport by train, barges, other transport pipeline operators, sovereign storage sites, etc.

Open from 16 December 2025 to 28 February 2026, the call for expressions of interest (AMI) conducted in the project area is open to all market stakeholders in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

This call for expressions of interest is the launch of the first development phase, which is non-binding. It helps to identify needs. To this end, stakeholders are invited to express their interest and requirements on the basis of the information provided in the "Memorandum", supplemented by the "Infrastructure Proposal" and the "Proposal for CO₂ These documents can be downloaded from this page. NaTran will then carry out a feasibility study with interested parties to define the appropriate infrastructure and draw up an initial budget.

Depending on the maturity of the CO₂ capture and recovery projects, this phase may be renewed. If it confirms the interest of the market, NaTran will define the conditions of access to the structures and the decision conditions for their performance, in consultation with the interested parties. A second phase, this time binding, can then begin.

Inter-regional CO₂ transport project map

>>> Project map in PDF format

CO₂ specifications must make it possible to preserve the integrity of transport structuresagainstthe risks of chemicalreactionand changes to the physicalcharacteristicsof their constituentmaterials, and to guarantee that CO₂ can be transported to other transport infrastructures in line with end requirements.

Any CO₂ flow introduced into the CO₂ transport network as proposed in this call for tenders will therefore have to comply with specifications in terms of:

• CO₂ quality (composition)
• Pressure and temperature conditions

NaTran proposes that the initial specifications, as summarised in the document CO₂ should be used for information purposes only.
 

Do you have a project to capture, store, export or recover CO₂? Are you interested in building a connection to the proposed future CO₂ transport infrastructure in the Normandy, Hauts-de-France, Grand-Est and Île-de-France regions?

Show your interest in the project!

This expression of interest phase runs from 16 December 2025 to 28 February 2026.

Once you have completed the online expression of interest form, NaTran will contact you to state your need. A confidentiality agreement may be proposed.