Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) at industrial point sources, such as fossil-fuel combustion, natural gas refining, ethanol production and cement manufacturing plants.  Once captured, the CO₂ gas is compressed and transported to a suitable location for injection and storage in deep geologic formations  These include saline reservoirs, mature oil and gas fields, and potentially unmineable coal seams, basalts or other formations.  Once stored, the CO₂ is isolated from drinking water supplies and prevented from release into the atmosphere by a confining zone that includes a dense layer of rock, which acts as a seal, and through additional trapping mechanisms.  Monitoring devices are also installed to ensure process integrity.  CCS applied to a modern conventional coal-based power plant could reduce CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere by approximately 80-90 percent compared to a plant without CCS.

Globally, CCS technologies have the potential to reduce overall climate change mitigation costs and increase flexibility in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  According to the 2005 report, Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, application of carbon sequestration technologies could reduce the costs of stabilizing CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere by 30 percent or more compared to scenarios where such technologies are not deployed.

Economic growth is closely tied to energy availability and consumption, particularly of lower-cost and widely available fuels such as coal. While the use of coal and other fossil fuels results in the release of CO₂, CCS technologies balance economic value and environmental concern – retaining coal as an affordable source of electricity in a carbon constrained world.

There are three large scale projects demonstrating CO₂ storage in operation today (large scale is defined as storing one million tons per year of CO₂).  CCS has not yet been applied to large-scale electricity generation due to a number of technological, infrastructure, cost and legal challenges.  Public policy measures and sustained funding to support continued CCS research, development and demonstration will be necessary to accelerate large-scale commercial deployment of this critical technology.