A rush of net-zero commitments by governments and companies, alongside plans to slash industrial emissions and get new power from hydrogen, mean efforts to lock away more climate-changing emissions underground need to ramp up fast, energy analysts say.
But an accelerating push to build enough carbon capture and storage (CCS) capacity to meet expected demand — and hold onto global climate goals — faces huge obstacles, not least that most climate polluters still are not charged for the damage they do.
In a few places, from Norway to Canada's province of Alberta, companies that emit planet-heating gases are taxed, making paying to pump them into long-term storage underground more appealing and feasible — even if prices for the service are still high.