The most comprehensive record yet of carbon dioxide stored underground through Geological Carbon Dioxide Storage has been published, revealing that 43.6 million tonnes were sequestered in 2024 alone – a new annual record – and that 421.7 million tonnes have now been stored in the past three decades. The 2026 Annual Report from The London Register of Subsurface CO₂ Storage, led by researchers from Imperial College London, tracks the annual rates of CO₂ stored by operational projects worldwide. This year’s edition expands the Register to 70 projects across 17 countries on six continents.
“Our latest report shows that geological CO₂ storage has become a global enterprise, with annual reported storage more than doubling between 2016 and 2024, and the Register itself now covering 69 individual projects around the world,” said Professor Samuel Krevor, Director of the Register from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial. “The consistency of these operations, and the fact that new countries and projects continue to join the Register, shows that geological storage is demonstrated as a large-scale mitigation technology.”
Geological CO₂ storage is a process where CO₂ captured from industrial sources and power production, or directly from the atmosphere, is injected into rocks deep underground, allowing this greenhouse gas to be safely stored for potentially thousands of years. The London Register of Subsurface CO₂ Storage is focused on tracking geological storage. “Where the sources of CO₂ today are dominated by industrial capture, removals from the atmosphere are projected to emerge as the leading technology using geological storage by mid-century,” said Professor Krevor.
Building on the Register’s findings from last year, the 2026 report finds that reported annual storage rose from 21.0 million tonnes in 2016 to a record 43.6 million tonnes in 2024. Projects in the US remain the largest contributors by number, with 23 projects reporting a combined 20.2 million tonnes, while Brazil’s Petrobras Santos Basin Pre-Salt Oil Field remained the single largest project, reporting 14.2 million tonnes. China’s reported storage increased to 1.7 million tonnes in 2024, while Australia reported 1.7 million tonnes. New Zealand and Italy both entered the Register for the first time, and in Europe the Northern Lights project in Norway began injection in August 2025.
This year’s report includes significant revisions to previously published figures. Cumulative geological CO₂ storage through 2023 has been revised from 351.4 to 342.0 million tonnes. “These revisions reflect the latest evidence, and we have been explicit in the report about where the accounting for reported storage remains uncertain,” said Dr Xiaowei Gao, Executive Director of the Register from Imperial’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering. “That transparency matters if geological CO₂ storage is to earn the confidence of policymakers and investors.”
At the time of publication, 29 projects across 12 countries had reported 2025 storage data, with an aggregate of 36.2 million tonnes. Brazil’s Petrobras Santos Basin project has already reported 19.6 million tonnes for 2025, while operations in China have reported 2.6 million tonnes and the United States 8.9 million tonnes.
Professor Krevor stated: “To meet the 1.5°C target pledged by the Paris Agreement, all projections indicate that geological CO₂ storage must scale up to one billion tonnes of CO₂ storage or more per year by 2050.” He added, “The more precisely we can trace every tonne of CO₂ from injection to permanent storage, the stronger the evidence base we can provide as the technology grows to the scale that climate targets demand.”
