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IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme, Stoke Orchard, Cheltenham, Glos., GL52 4RZ, UK johng{at}ieagreen.demon.co.uk
To meet targets for greenhouse gas emission reduction set by the Kyoto Protocol, many countries are considering a range of near-term options such as, fuel switching, energy efficiency improvements and use of renewable sources of energy, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. However, to meet the goal of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, namely stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, it is likely that deeper reductions in emissions will be needed. This will require additional measures such as the geological storage of CO2. Geological storage of CO2 would be used to sequester CO2 captured from large anthropogenic sources, such as power and large industrial plants. There are a number of reservoirs suitable for geological storage of CO2 including depleted oil and gas fields and deep saline aquifers. Many of these reservoirs have stored hydrocarbons and fluids for million of years, which gives confidence that CO2 can be stored for similar durations, but research is needed to confirm this.
