The British government has announced a plan to develop ways of scrubbing carbon dioxide from the emissions of coal and gas-fired power stations and pumping it beneath the seabed to reduce the impact of fossil fuels on the climate. The greenhouse gas would be stored in depleted North Sea oil and gas fields within ten years.

Carbon capture, also called sequestration, involves passing flue gases from power stations through chemical solvents to remove the carbon dioxide. The gas is then compressed to liquify it, and sent by pipeline to oil or gas rigs. There, it is pumped underground into strata once filled with the fossil fuels.

If the schemes prove successful, they could reduce greenhouse emissions from power stations by up to 85 per cent.

Norway has been running a pilot sequestration project since 1996 in which more than a million tonnes of carbon dioxide have been pumped into empty oil strata in stable and sustainable fashion.

Via The Times.