As carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) gains policy traction and pilot project funding, CCS usually gets the limelight, whereas CCU is often overlooked. CCU, if feasible, has two potential advantages: it obviates risks and monitoring needs associated with long-term storage, and it creates economic value to offset carbon capture costs. Yet scholarly accounts of CCU feasibility are rare. To address this lacuna, the manuscript channels in-depth knowledge of a CCU start-up in Norway into a critical analysis of the barriers and opportunities for emerging sectoral enterprises. The trajectory of Bergen Carbon Solutions (BCS) during 2016–2019 is mapped by a human geographer along with its founder. We organize enquiry along three axes: (i) access to “soft” capital (this includes knowledge and human resources), (ii) access to “hard” capital (this includes financing and technical approvals), and (iii) navigation of rapid expansion. Under (i), we present and analyze the contextual conditions and contingencies for the emergence of the core value proposition. Under (ii), we detail the networks, processes, and institutional structures through which the enterprise gained its financial basis and was able to test its CCU process. Under (iii), we complement attention to organizational management by highlighting key informal and human factors. We foreground how the emergence of CCU is a relational process that depends on how actors in a changing field interact and reconfigure themselves. This informs regulatory policies and economic instruments about overlooked contextual issues related to the modulation and feasibility of scalable, profitable CCU.

随着碳捕集利用和封存（CCUS）获得政策关注和试点项目资金，CCS通常引起人们的关注，而CCU通常被忽略。CCU（如果可行）具有两个潜在的优势：它消除了风险并监控了与长期存储相关的需求，并且创造了经济价值以抵消碳捕获成本。然而，关于CCU可行性的学术报道很少。为了解决这一问题，手稿将对CCU在挪威的初创企业的深入了解转化为对新兴部门企业的障碍和机遇的批判性分析。由人文地理学家及其创始人绘制了2016-2019年卑尔根碳素解决方案（BCS）的轨迹。我们从三个方面组织调查：（i）获得“软”资本（包括知识和人力资源），（ii）获得“硬”资本（包括融资和技术批准），以及（iii）快速扩张。在（i）下，我们介绍并分析了核心价值主张出现的背景条件和突发事件。在（ii）下，我们详细介绍了企业通过其获得财务基础并能够测试其CCU流程的网络，流程和体制结构。在（iii）下，我们通过强调关键的非正式因素和人为因素来补充对组织管理的关注。我们展望了CCU的出现是一个关系过程，它取决于不断变化的领域中的参与者如何进行交互和重新配置。这为监管政策和经济手段提供了与可伸缩，可盈利CCU的调制和可行性有关的被忽略的上下文问题的信息。