This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Australia has designated a seabed storage site near its northern coast where a Japanese company plans to store massive amounts of carbon pollution using a technology that has divided climate scientists. Approval of the site to store up to 443 million metric tons (488 million tons) of carbon dioxide has become part of the global debate over carbon capture and storage: Proponents say the project will play an important role in reducing emissions from hard-to-clean-up industries like steel production and shipping.
Critics say it will harm critical habitats and endangered wildlife while promoting a technology that prolongs the use of heavily polluting fossil fuels. Carbon capture and storage, or CCS, is a three-step process that captures, transports and stores CO₂, which contributes to climate change when released into the atmosphere. Some governments and fossil fuel giants including Exxon Mobil and Shell promote the strategy as a climate solution that buys time for countries and industries to transition to cleaner energy.
While the International Energy Agency considers carbon capture, utilization and storage a tool for curbing climate change, the agency's net-zero emissions scenario forecasts it will contribute less than 5% of emissions reductions by 2050. Detractors say it will slow progress of already off-track global efforts to curb emissions and allow power plants and industrial facilities to continue burning fossil fuels under the promise of capturing the exhaust later. CCS projects are moving ahead: The United States has several in operation and the European Union's first offshore facility opened in September.
Australia's project would be led by Japanese energy company Inpex, which is conducting environmental impact assessments and must obtain other government licenses before a final decision is made and CO₂ injection starts. The project would start in Darwin, the Northern Territory capital city on the Timor Sea, and would extend 260 kilometers (162 miles) offshore, injecting CO₂ into a deep saline aquifer called West Peron. Inpex says the primary customer would be the nearby Ichthys liquefied natural gas facility, which is majority-owned by Inpex and which exports a majority of its gas to Japan.
Other companies in the future could store their CO₂ at the site, which can permanently store up to 443 million metric tons (488 million tons) of CO₂ over 35 years, according to Inpex. Australian Resources Minister Madeleine King said the designation of the site was an important step and demonstrated the government's support for technologies that help reduce emissions. "Carbon capture and storage will play an important role in reducing emissions from hard-to-abate industries, supporting Australia's transition to net zero," King said in a statement.
King and Australia's Department of Industry, Science and Resources did not respond to an email from AP seeking further comment. Environmental groups are concerned about the impact the project would have on marine, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems. The area overlaps with habitats for multiple threatened and migratory species, including dugongs, turtles and seabirds.
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