The feasibility of reaching gigatonne scale CO<sub>2</sub> storage by mid-century.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39198390.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-51226-8 and PMC identifier 11358273.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The Sixth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects subsurface carbon storage at rates of 1 - 30 GtCO<sub>2</sub> yr<sup>-1</sup> by 2050. These projections, however, overlook potential geological, geographical, and techno-economic limitations to growth. We evaluate the feasibility of scaling up CO<sub>2</sub> storage using a geographically resolved growth model that considers constraints from both geology and scale-up rate. Our results suggest a maximum global storage rate of 16 GtCO<sub>2</sub> yr<sup>-1</sup> by 2050, but this is contingent on the United States contributing 60% of the total. These values contrast with projections in the Sixth Assessment Report that vastly overestimate the feasibility of deployment in China, Indonesia, and South Korea. A feasible benchmark for global CO<sub>2</sub> storage projections, and consistent with current government technology roadmaps, suggests a global storage rate of 5-6 GtCO<sub>2</sub> yr<sup>-1</sup>, with the United States contributing around 1 GtCO<sub>2</sub> yr<sup>-1</sup>.