Geological CO₂ Storage: Massive Scale, Hidden Risks, Eternal Monitoring - CleanTechnica

The article critically examines the viability of geological carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration as a large-scale climate mitigation strategy. While geological storage has gained traction, partly due to less aggressive electrification scenarios and fossil fuel industry influence, real-world experience from enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations raises serious concerns about its effectiveness. EOR wells, which inject tens of millions of tonnes of CO₂ annually, already exhibit non-negligible leakage rates and mechanical integrity failures. These wells operate under less demanding conditions than dedicated sequestration wells, which must contain supercritical CO₂ under high pressure and corrosive environments for centuries or millennia. The higher risks of leakage and containment failure in future sequestration projects pose a significant challenge to meeting climate goals that require near-zero leakage over very long timescales. Scaling geological sequestration to the levels projected by organizations like the International Energy Agency—around 7.6 gigatonnes of CO₂ per year by mid-century—would require an unprecedented expansion of current capacity