New Study on Global Carbon Storage Capacity is No Gamechanger
A recent article in Nature by Gidden et al claims to establish ‘a prudent planetary limit of around 1,460 Gt of safe CO2 geologic storage,’ which an associated press release said has great policy and practical implications because it is almost ten times smaller than previous estimates. We explain this study should be viewed with caution as it relies on a simplistic methodology, and that even this ‘prudent’ estimate represents ~125–270 years of CO2 storage, more than enough to fulfil its role in achieving net zero and allow the transition to other increasingly effective long-term decarbonisation solutions this century
September 2025