Global risk management firm DNV has been appointed as the independent certifier for the Northern Endurance Partnership’s (NEP) carbon dioxide transport and storage project, a primary component of the United Kingdom’s East Coast Cluster decarbonization strategy.

The project centres on a massive infrastructure network designed to capture emissions from industrial emitters in Teesside and transport them via a high-capacity pipeline for permanent sequestration beneath the southern North Sea.

Under the agreement, DNV will oversee the verification of the entire transport chain. This scope begins at the onshore compression facilities where the CO2 is received and extends through miles of offshore pipelines to the final subsea injection systems. 

The firm’s primary objective is to ensure that all construction and operational phases strictly comply with the CO2 transport and storage license issued by the British government.

"Independent certification provides regulators and project partners with confidence that complex CO2 transport infrastructure has been delivered in accordance with its license requirements," said Hari Vamadevan, DNV senior vice president and regional director for Energy Systems in the UK and Ireland.

Vamadevan noted that DNV’s role focuses on verifying design integrity and construction quality so the system performs as intended when the first CO2 flows through the lines. 

The firm will leverage technical expertise in pipeline integrity and risk management to provide evidence-based assurance.

Coming just two months after the assurance provider was appointed to  oversee the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the first phase of the H2East pipeline, the appointment marks a shift in the UK’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) regulatory landscape.

The role of an independent certifier is a newly established requirement for the sector, designed to ensure safety and compliance before any infrastructure begins active service.

Rich Denny, managing director of NEP, described the project as the UK’s "first and largest" CO2 transportation asset. He emphasized that the certification process is vital for ensuring the "nationally significant infrastructure" meets the highest safety and technical standards.

Once operational, the NEP pipeline will serve as a critical artery for the UK's net-zero goals, providing a reliable route for industrial carbon disposal that was previously vented into the atmosphere.