Carbon dioxide capture and storage: Seven years after the IPCC special report

Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) entails separating carbon dioxide from coal-, biomassor gas-fired power plants or other large industrial sources, transporting the carbon dioxide by pipeline, injecting it deep underground, and storing it indefinitely in geological reservoirs including depleted oil and gas fields, and saline aquifers. CCS is envisioned to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to the atmosphere when applied to large facilities that use fossil fuels. Applied to biomass, it may also lower CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere while supplying energy. The publication of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2005) Special Report on CCS (SRCCS) raised the profile of CCS, particularly among the expert community dealing with international climate policy (Meadowcroft and Langhelle 2009). The expert community now commonly sees CCS as a major option for reducing global emissions of CO2. The technology plays a major role in long-term scenarios where there is significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (Clarke et al. 2009; IEA 2010a). For CCS to play such a major role, the separation, transport and storage would have to handle large volumes of CO2, and involve huge investments in facilities and infrastructure. The SRCCS conveyed some key insights. First, it clearly indicated that in principle, CCS is technically feasible. It also found that subsurface endowments of geological storage are probably massive, but regionally distributed and still highly uncertain. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change (2012) 17:563–567 DOI 10.1007/s11027-012-9391-5