Carbon Capture and Storage: Climate Fix or False Hope?

Carbon levels in the atmosphere continue to rise, and not all emissions can be eliminated at the source. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an attractive solution for hard-to-decarbonize industries such as cement, steel and chemicals. But while carbon capture and storage offers another way to cut emissions, it still faces significant challenges around cost and scalability.

What is carbon capture and storage?

Carbon capture and storage is a process designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by capturing CO₂ at the source and storing it deep underground. The goal is to keep emissions from affecting the atmosphere, therefore mitigating the effects of climate change.

The process typically works in three stages. First, carbon dioxide is captured from industrial processes such as cement, steel or power generation. Then it is compressed and transported, often via pipelines. Finally, it is injected into underground rock formations, where it can be stored for decades or even centuries.

Carbon capture and storage is one of the most debated technologies in climate tech – detractors say money and energy should be spent on eliminating fossil fuel use instead. Supporters argue that carbon capture and storage is a complementary tool that should work alongside renewables, especially in sectors where emissions are hardest to eliminate.

CCS vs CCUS: understanding the difference

You may have also come across the term CCUS – carbon capture, utilization and storage. While CCS focuses only on capturing and storing emissions, CCUS includes the reuse of captured carbon in products such as fuels, chemicals or building materials.

For founders and investors in climatetech and cleantech, the distinction between the two is key: CCS is focused entirely on mitigation, while CCUS opens up potential new value chains.

Why the energy transition still needs carbon capture

Renewable energy has made a huge impact on the global energy system, but it can’t solve everything. Certain industries produce emissions that are very difficult to eliminate, even with electrification technologies.

The industries that renewables cannot fully decarbonize

Heavy industries like cement, steel and chemicals generate CO₂ from energy use and chemical reactions in production processes. Aviation, shipping and some forms of hydrogen production also remain dependent on high-emissions processes.

“One-third of net zero in aviation is going to come from carbon removal,” said Marta Krupinska, CEO and Co-Founder of the carbon removals market maker CUR8, on the VivaTech stage. “That's because sustainable aviation fuel is not abundant and actually very expensive.”

Carbon capture and storage could help fill the decarbonization gaps that wind, solar and electrification can’t. Risk management provider DNV estimates that by 2030 CCS will grow fourfold.

“It's the last 10%,” says Andrew Shebbeare, a partner at Counteract VC, which backs early stage entrepreneurs across the carbon negative value chain. “It's the bit that gets the hardest to abate emissions over the line.”

The real cost of carbon capture and storage

The biggest barrier for carbon capture and storage is cost.

“Carbon removal is naturally quite resource intensive.” explains Shebbeare. “Regardless of how you do it, you're trying to get a very dilute molecule out of the air and concentrate it. And that's fighting against entropy.”

Building the infrastructure to transport and store CO₂ also requires enormous upfront investment. And while costs for renewables such as solar and wind have dropped dramatically over the past decade, CCS has scaled more slowly.

Why CCS costs have fallen more slowly than solar and wind

Unlike solar panels or wind turbines, which benefit from mass manufacturing and global supply chains, carbon capture and storage projects are highly site-specific. Each installation depends on local geology, industrial integration and transport infrastructure.

The International Energy Agency has pinpointed two reasons costs remain so high: First, improving CCS technology requires building, testing and iterating the technology, and most of the money for that has come from public sources. The second is a lack of diverse and stable demand.

Carbon capture and storage deployment today

In 2025, the Global CCS Institute reported that there were 77 carbon capture and storage projects operating, with another 47 under construction.

The world's largest active CCS projects

Norway, the United States, and Canada are leading the way, offering tax incentives and investing in large-scale projects that capture millions of tonnes of CO₂ annually.

In Europe, carbon capture and storage is becoming a pillar of climate policy, particularly as governments seek to balance decarbonization with industrial competitiveness.

Major global CCS projects include:

• Petrobras Santos Basin Pre-Salt Oil Field: This pre-combustion facility located in Brazil is currently the largest operating carbon capture project in the world.

• Shute Creek Treating Facility: The world’s second largest CCS project, Shute Creek processes gas produced from the LaBarge field in the U.S. state of Wyoming.

• Huaneng Gansu Zhengning Power Plant: In 2025, the world's largest coal-fired carbon capture demonstration project began operating in China.

• Brevik CCS: The world’s largest CCS cement plant started operations in June 2025 in Norway.

Is underground CO₂ storage safe and permanent?

One of the most common concerns around carbon capture and storage is whether storing CO₂ underground is really safe.

The answer, according to current research, is yes – when done correctly. CO₂ is typically stored in deep saline aquifers or depleted oil and gas reservoirs, sealed beneath layers of impermeable rock. These formations have held gases for millions of years.

However, monitoring is essential. Companies have to track pressure, movement and potential leakage over time. “It's incredibly important that we are careful about greenwashing,” emphasizes Krupinska. “That we hold corporates to account, that we make sure that, indeed, this is not a license to pollute.”

How AI and new technology are accelerating CCS

Artificial intelligence is being integrated into the design and operations of carbon capture and storage projects.

From identifying optimal storage sites to predicting leakage risks, AI is helping reduce uncertainty and improve CCS efficiency. It is also being used to optimize capture processes, which helps lower energy consumption and costs.

This intersects with concerns around AI energy consumption, and the high energy demands of AI and CCS have to be balanced with the benefits.

The startups redefining carbon capture

A new wave of startups is pushing carbon capture and storage forward, says Shebbeare: “The next generation of direct air capture companies is maybe using a quarter, a fifth, or even less energy by using new chemistry, by innovating in new materials, or by making direct air capture a by-product of another industrial process.”

The top CCS startups include:

• Climeworks: The most funded CCS startup globally, Climeworks focuses on capturing CO₂ from ambient air and permanently storing it underground.

• Carbon Clean: Hard-to-abate industries like cement, steel and refineries use Carbon Clean’s modular systems, which are designed for retrofitting existing plants.

• CarbonCure: By injecting captured CO₂ into fresh concrete and mineralizing it, CarbonCure traps carbon while also creating green building materials.

• Carbyon: French President Emmanual Macron stopped at Carbyon’s booth at VivaTech in 2025 to learn more about the startup’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology.

What CCS means for businesses and policymakers

For corporate leaders, the rise of carbon capture and storage is less about ideology and more about strategy. As Krupinska explains: “It's about protecting the license to operate, it's about saving money, it's about making more money.”

The scale of the global emissions challenge is enormous. And while it is currently much cheaper to reduce current emissions than to capture them, CCS can be a powerful tool if the goal is to meet net-zero targets. Companies in high-emission sectors are considering carbon capture and storage as part of their decarbonization roadmap via partnerships, infrastructure access and regulatory frameworks.

At the same time, policymakers face a balancing act. They want to support CCS deployment without allowing it to delay the transition to renewable energy. “In the long run, we have to force big emitters to get to net zero,” says Shebbeare. “And that's going to be through law.”

Bottom line: Carbon capture and storage is neither a silver bullet solution nor a scam. It’s a bridging technology that can buy time while bigger climate transformations take place.

One of VivaTech 2026's main themes is Energy, Greentech & Mobility. If you want to participate in conversations on the carbon capture and pollution remedies, get your pass today and join us this June!