In order to keep average global warming to less than 1.5 C by 2050, it is becoming increasingly clear that large quantities of CO₂ will have to be captured and permanently stored. Emissions reductions scenarios are converging to around 15-20% of present day emissions needing to be sequestered, mainly from hard to abate industries like steel, cement, and fertilizer manufacturing. Direct air capture will also need to be a significant fraction of this, to offset emissions from distributed sources of CO₂, such as aviation.

It is clear that an at-scale CO₂ storage industry is now a necessity, and geologic storage will be required to permanently store the CO₂. Whilst dozens of individual full scale projects have been developed over the last 3 decades, and CO₂ has been injected underground in similar quantities for other purposes for almost 70 years, there is still hesitancy and a lack of commitment from industry and government.

This seminar covered the technical, social, and policy factors affecting the upscaling of CO₂ storage, and what is and what isn’t slowing it down. Three speakers gave 10-15 minute presentations on the three topics, which was followed by a discussion and Q&A.

On the panel:
Tom Kettlety, Fellow in Geological Carbon Storage, Oxford Net Zero
Emily Cox, Researcher on Responsible Innovation & Societal Engagement, CO₂RE
David Reiner, Professor of Technology Policy, Cambridge Judge Business School
Steve Smith, Executive Director, Oxford Net Zero and CO₂RE, Chair

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