France, Sept. 29 -- Norway has opened the gateway to a massive undersea vault for carbon dioxide, marking a significant step towards launching what its operator calls the first commercial service for CO2 transport and storage.

The Northern Lights project plans to take CO2 emissions captured at factory smokestacks in Europe and inject them into geological reservoirs under the seabed.

The aim is to prevent the emissions from being released into the atmosphere, and thereby help halt climate change.

On the island of Oygarden, a key milestone was marked on Thursday with the inauguration of a terminal built on the shores of the North Sea, its shiny storage tanks rising up against the sky.

It is here that the liquified CO2 will be transporte...