Today, it was announced that Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Vestforbrænding together have reached a key milestone in establishing Denmark's next large-scale carbon capture facility

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The joint venture company known as Gaia, with the purpose of developing the carbon capture facility at Vestforbrænding, has been officially pre-qualified for participation in the Danish Energy Agency's Carbon Capture and Storage Fund – the CCS Fund. A total of 16 companies had applied with 10 selected for official pre-qualification. This marks a significant step forward for one of Denmark's most ambitious and mature CCS initiatives.

The Gaia project aims to capture up to 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually from Vestforbrænding's waste-to-energy plant – a major contributor to Denmark's climate ambitions and municipal energy transition plans.

“This milestone is the result of years of preparation and began with an ambitious and visionary goal set by our board of becoming CO2-neutral by 2030. With today's announcement, we take another big step forward to achieving this goal and to becoming one of the first waste-to-energy plants in Denmark to implement a full-scale carbon capture solution,” says Steen Neuchs Vedel, Director of Vestforbrænding.

CIPs investment in Gaia comes from their Energy Transition Fund, which focuses next-generation renewable technologies to decarbonize hard to abate sectors.

“We are proud to be pre-qualified and pleased to see this important and significant project moving forward. Gaia has strong local roots and shows that there is a clear will from municipalities to take significant and ambitious climate action, and we are confident that the government will support the most mature and impactful solutions among the candidates. Our strong partnership with Vestforbrænding has allowed for the robust development of this project and strengthen our experience with carbon capture, which is of great importance to the Energy Transition Fund,” says Nikos Samaritis, Managing Director in CIPs Energy Transition Fund, CIP.

The next project milestone for Gaia is the indicative offer, which is to be handed in to the DEA in August:

“This milestone is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire Gaia team. We've worked very hard to bring the project to this point, and I want to thank everyone involved. With the pre-qualification in place, our full focus is now on preparing the material for the indicative offer due in August,” says Dennis Sanou, Project Director for Gaia.

Gaia's inclusion among the top candidates in the DEA's process highlights the strength of public-private partnerships in delivering climate infrastructure at scale. This milestone comes on top of other major milestone, such as the project having its Environmental Impact Assessment approved by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency in January 2025.

The final selection for subsidy awards is expected later this year.

About Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP)

Founded in 2012, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (CIP) today is the world's largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield energy investments. The funds managed by CIP focus on investments in offshore and onshore wind, storage, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity, advanced bioenergy, and Power-to-X.

CIP manages 13 funds and has to date raised approximately EUR 32 billion for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from approximately 180 international institutional investors. CIP has projects in more 30 countries and more than 2500 employees across platforms. For more information, visit www.cip.com.

About Vestforbrænding

Vestforbrænding is one of Denmark's largest waste and energy companies, owned by 19 municipalities on Zealand. The company processes waste from businesses and one million citizens, focusing on optimal treatment with consideration for climate and the environment. The majority of the waste is recycled, while the rest is incinerated at the Glostrup facility to produce electricity and district heating. Learn more at www.vestfor.dk.

Media Contacts:

• Christopher Mortensen, Press Officer, Vestforbrænding
  Phone: +45 40 38 76 31
  Email: cmor@vestfor.dk
• Oliver Routhe Skov, Head of Media Relations, CIP
  Phone: +45 30 54 12 27
  Email: orsk@cip.com