Plans to inject carbon under the seabed are growing at an unprecedented rate. Norway’s Longship project aims to create large-scale offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities, but critics claim that “despite the fanfare around CCS, it is a costly and risky endeavour”.

In CCS, CO2 emissions from various industries are captured, and stored indefinitely deep underground. Many industries, particularly oil and gas, claim that CCS is an effective tool in reducing atmospheric carbon emissions.

According to the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a Washington-based non-profit, by mid-2023 more than 50 new offshore CCS projects had been announced globally.

In a report published towards the end of last year – Deep Trouble: The Risks of Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage – the CIEL says that instead of looking for ways to phase out their use of fossil fuels, polluting industries are instead focusing on CCS as a solution.

The report states that “despite the fanfare around CCS...