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How can carbon capture and storage help limit global warming?

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Grinnell Glacier shrinkage — Global warming A series of photographs of the Grinnell Glacier taken from the summit of Mount Gould in Glacier National Park, Montana, in (from left) 1938, 1981, 1998, and 2006. In 1938 the Grinnell Glacier filled the entire area at the bottom of the image. By 2006 it had largely disappeared from this view.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) helps limit global warming by preventing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from entering the atmosphere, where it otherwise acts as a greenhouse gas that traps heat and raises Earth's temperature.12

The process generally involves three stages:
* Capture: CO₂ is separated from industrial or power plant emissions using methods like post-combustion, pre-combustion, or oxyfuel combustion. Alternatively, direct air capture (DAC) removes CO₂ directly from the ambient air.134
* Transport: The captured gas is compressed into a liquid state for efficient movement.13
* Storage: The CO₂ is injected into isolated, long-term reservoirs, such as deep saline formations, depleted oil and gas fields, or the deep ocean.25

While CCS is a vital tool for decarbonization, it faces significant economic and technical challenges, including high infrastructure costs and the need for massive scaling to meet global climate goals. Properly managed geological storage is estimated to be highly effective at retaining sequestered carbon for over 1,000 years.26