Wood Mackenzie has put a $211 billion price tag on the global CO2 transport infrastructure market by 2060, the level of capital it says the sector needs to move 3 gigatons of CO2 per annum across global markets.

Roughly 200 million tons per annum of that volume will cross international borders. The figure comes from the consultancy's market analysis, which frames CO2 transport as the connective tissue between industrial emitters and geological storage — the segment that decides whether capture projects deliver tonnage or stranded assets.

Where does the capital go?

Asia Pacific takes nearly 60% of total global investment. The driver is structural: vast geographical distances separate the region's major industrial emission sources from available geological storage. North America and Europe follow as the next largest regional markets.

Pipelines will absorb more than 80% of total capital expenditure, primarily linking onshore industrial emitters to onshore and offshore storage formations. In short, this remains a pipeline story; shipping is the flexible footnote that grows louder each year.

The consultancy identifies one outsized cost lever: repurposing existing natural gas pipelines, which could reduce capital expenditure by over 60% and halve overall CO2 transport costs. The catch is technical validation. Not every gas line can carry CO2, and suitability requires rigorous assessment. New-build pipelines and shipping fleets therefore remain necessary components of the global value chain.

What role does shipping play?

Where pipelines offer superior economics at high volumes, liquefied CO2 shipping provides flexibility for early-stage developments and long-distance maritime routes. Wood Mackenzie highlights that low-pressure LCO2 vessels can cut cross-border transport costs by up to 34% over long distances compared with medium-pressure alternatives. Vessel configuration, in other words, is a decisive commercial variable — not an engineering detail.

The demand side is concentrated. Cross-border CO2 transport from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan is expected to reach 164 million metric tons per annum by 2060. Those volumes will target 187 million tons per annum of prospective storage capacity across Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Japan carries the heaviest single burden. The country may need to export nearly 50 million tons of CO2 annually via maritime routes. Cross-border shipping could add $40 per ton and account for roughly 30% of Japan's total levelized carbon capture and storage costs.

What decides whether this gets built?

Policy, not engineering. Wood Mackenzie notes that the growth of cross-border networks depends heavily on policy alignment. Permitting delays, unresolved liability frameworks and the absence of bilateral government agreements continue to present financial and operational hurdles for cross-border carbon management worldwide.

The milestone to watch is the first wave of bilateral CO2 transport agreements and storage permits across the Asia Pacific corridor. Until those signatures land, the $211 billion remains a forecast rather than a construction schedule.