Young Professionals: Reflections on the Geosciences in Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage

Many future energy technologies in North America and around the world will either directly or indirectly depend on the effective, safe use of the subsurface for either permanent and/or intermittent resource/waste storage. The current, accelerated conversations surrounding energy transition strategies are, for the most part, assuming subsurface pore space is simply available as a ”solution space”. Taking this pore space for granted potentially leads to situations where the risks and challenges surrounding temporary and long-term geological storage opportunities are not appropriately considered. The Geosciences have a significant role to play in meeting the current and future challenges in the energy transition landscape, which lately has drawn significant attention to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), to ensure safe, effective, economical, sustainable use of the subsurface. This presentation will highlight how the geosciences can play a critical role in CCUS and will use the Aquistore project to highlight many of these roles.