Carbon dioxide (CO2) related to the intense extraction of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution is now known to be the prime culprit of climate change.

As part of the race to reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, development of the technology of capture and geological storage of CO2 is in full swing. This basically consists in:

• capturing CO2 during its emission from large stationary industrial sources, and then

• storing it underground in deep geological layers, thus returning to the ground in the form of CO2 the carbon that was formerly extracted as hydrocarbons and coal.

In a context where:

• world population growth is soaring,
• the energy needs of developing countries are rising,
• nations will continue to rely on fossil fuels over the coming decades,

the technology of CO2 capture and storage stands out as a necessary step, in association with other means, to succeed in cutting worldwide CO2 emissions in half by year 2050 and thus avoiding large-scale climatic upheaval.

With almost 15 years of research under its belt in this domain,
BRGM is one of the leaders in the work carried out in France,
Europe, and worldwide.