Nine companies are now ready to invest hundreds of millions of euros in the transport and storage of greenhouse gas CO2, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.

EON, Electrabel and Shell-Essent are among the groups which have come forward, the paper quotes Ger van Tongeren of the Rotterdam Climate Initiative as saying.
The nine firms have signed an agreement with the RCI and Rotterdam city council to push through the storage plans. They say €3bn will be needed to make ‘carbon capture and storage’ a reality.
The RCI is also lobbying for a €1bn government contribution to the programme. Van Tongeren claims both economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven and environment minister Jacqueline Cramer are ‘open’ to the idea of co-financing.
One area – Barendrecht near Rotterdam – has already been earmarked as an underground storage site but locals are vehemently opposed. The government will decide if storage can go ahead in the area in October.