Author:
Ludo van Hijfte
CEO
PGGM has acquired a 49 per cent stake in Carbon Collectors B.V. on behalf of Pension Fund Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW). With this investment, we are fully funded to complete our innovative technology for an efficient CO2 collection, transport and storage service and to prepare for our market launch.
Quote from Ludo van Hijfte - CEO Carbon Collectors.
“This investment will enable us to complete the design of vessels and other required infrastructure and to accelerate ongoing feasibility studies with industrial clients and CO2 storage partners. With PFZW’s financial support and Carbon Collectors’ expertise, the first projects can be operational within three years of an investment decision.
Our flexible CO2 transport and storage approach will aid both large and smaller companies, including those outside industrial clusters, in responsibly reducing their CO2 emissions. This will allow us to accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions while maintaining key industries for the Netherlands and Europe.”
The partnership with PGGM will enable us to realize our first projects
PGGM has also acquired the exclusive right to invest up to €200 million as equity in projects to build the necessary infrastructure that will be used to collect, transport and inject CO2 into suitable permanent geological storage sites, such as depleted offshore gas fields. These investments will enable Carbon Collectors to realize its first projects and to accelerate project delivery.
As a result, we, in collaboration with our strategic project partners, will be able to introduce a realistic, competitive, flexible and scalable solution to the market in the short term that can make a substantial contribution to meeting Europe’s climate goals by reducing CO2 emissions from industrial emitters.
Carbon Collectors has set a goal of bringing the first captured CO2 from its clients directly to permanent storage before 2030, with the expectation that this will quickly grow to around 6 million tonnes per year.
Carbon Collectors targets clients in the so-called “hard to abate industries”. In other words, sectors that are particularly difficult to decarbonise in other ways, for instance because of their high energy consumption and/or the nature of their production processes. Examples include the steel and cement industries, as well as the waste treatment, recycling and pulp & paper industries. It is essential to Carbon Collectors that every project it participates in generates substantial net climate gains.
Quote from Simon Nicolaas - Investment Director at PGGM Infrastructure
“This investment in Carbon Collectors is a perfect fit with PFZW’s ambition to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the energy transition. We are looking for companies that are well positioned in this respect and achieve the long-term returns we need to pay successive generations of workers in the health and social care sector a good pension. Carbon Collectors also contributes to PFZW’s goal of achieving a net zero investment portfolio by 2050, in line with PFZW’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.”
Carbon Collectors targets a growing market
New industrial projects are increasingly using CO2 capture, which is causing demand for CO2 transport and storage (‘CCS’) services to grow. The EU alone aims to capture and store 50 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030. Supported by European laws and regulations, this is expected to increase more than fivefold by 2040. Globally, CCS is also required on a large scale to meet the targets agreed in the Paris climate agreement: 1.2Gt (1,200 million tonnes) per year in 2030 to 5.9Gt per year by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency IEA.
In this transaction, Carbon Collectors was advised by Santander CIB and STEK Advocaten B.V. PGGM was advised by De Roos Advocaten en Notariaat.
For PGGM, this transaction is part of the special energy transition mandate set up by PFZW in 2024. As part of this mandate one billion euros is available in the next few years for investment in mainly young companies that have developed promising solutions that contribute to the energy transition and that are generating a solid financial return, thereby creating value for the pensions of employees in the health and social care sector. This is the fourth investment under this mandate.
Over PGGM
PGGM is a not-for-profit cooperative pension fund service provider. As a pensions administrator, asset manager and management consultant, PGGM executes its social mandate: to provide for good old-age incomes for participants affiliated to Pension Fund Zorg en Welzijn, Pension Fund Metaal en Techniek, Stipp, Bpf Schilders and Bpf Koopvaardij. PGGM administers and manages the pensions of 5.6 million participants. As of 31 December 2024, PGGM managed EUR 261 billion of long-term pension capital for its clients worldwide. PGGM originates from the health and social care sector and uses its expertise to support this valuable sector with labour market issues. Via the member organisation PGGM&CO, PGGM supports 765,000 active members and pensioners with a background in the health and social care sector.
Do you want to explore possibilities to cut your emissions? Let’s get in touch.
Thanks! We'll contact you.
HEADQUARTERS
Carbon Collectors
Leonard Springerlaan 35
9727KB Groningen
The Netherlands
