Delivering sustainable heat and pioneering large‑scale carbon removal through BECCS

“SBP certification helps assure our fuel supply complies with EU criteria for sustainable biomass. This is key for our annual reporting of sustainable biomass and fulfilment of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED).” Johan Isaksson, Head of energy trading

Stockholm Exergi AB is a major district energy provider and an important SBP-certified End-user and Trader of woody biomass. Operating one of Europe’s largest bioenergy- combined heat and power (bio-CHP) plants, the company plays a critical role in delivering renewable heat and electricity to Stockholm. Its biomass portfolio is sustainably sourced mainly from Sweden, the Baltic countries and southern Europe. Around one-third of the supply is SBP-compliant wood chips and pellets. 

The bio-CHP in Värtan, central Stockholm, has onsite storage designed for four to five days of wood chip supply and deliveries are planned with precision and monitored in real time to ensure security of supply and full traceability. When incoming shipments are surplus to operational needs, Stockholm Exergi can resell these consignments to other users, reflecting its additional role as an occasional trader. 

The company is now recognised globally for its leadership in permanent carbon removals through BECCS Stockholm, a flagship BioEnergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) facility under construction at the Värtan bio-CHP plant. BECCS Stockholm will capture 800,000 tonnes of biogenic CO₂ every year beginning in 2028. This will make it one of the world’s largest BECCS installations and a cornerstone of Sweden’s and the EU’s long-term climate neutrality objectives. The project integrates proven carbon capture technology with high‑efficiency bio-CHP, providing a model for other European cities seeking scalable pathways to negative emissions. The initiative has received substantial support from both the EU Innovation Fund and Swedish government mechanisms designed to accelerate the deployment of large‑scale carbon removal, in addition to being successful in securing purchases of permanent removal certificates on the voluntary carbon market.

A critical enabler of BECCS Stockholm is the use of sustainably sourced biomass. The climate benefits of BECCS depend fundamentally on the sustainable origin and full traceability of the biomass combusted. For this reason, SBP certification plays a role in Stockholm Exergi’s fuel procurement and compliance systems. 

SBP’s rigorous assurance framework is one way for the company to demonstrate that biomass inputs, including residues and forest-derived materials, are legally harvested, sustainably sourced, and compliant with EU RED sustainability and greenhouse gas requirements. SBP data also support the detailed upstream carbon accounting necessary for a BECCS facility to validate net-negative emissions. As the company transitions towards high integrity carbon removal, SBP’s verified chain of custody as well as energy and carbon data reporting is an important foundation for the transparency required by regulators, investors and purchasers of permanent removal certificates.

With BECCS Stockholm set to transform the climate profile of the Värtan plant, the sustainable biomass supply will remain essential. Stockholm Exergi’s work illustrates how sustainably sourced biomass, when combined with advanced carbon capture, can deliver meaningful negative emissions and provide a replicable blueprint for other urban energy systems.