“Carbon capture and storage” (CCS) is one of the prime “end of pipe” solutions being peddled around the world, supposedly to cope with the egregious impacts of burning coal. However “clean” may be a consignment of coal before entering a power plant, refinery or smelter (by treating it beforehand to remove its dirty contents of mercury, radioactive metals, sulphur, nitrous oxide and methane), carbon dioxide emissions will still get blown into the sky. Suppose then, that you’re able to confine that burden of carbon, then transform it into something that can be safely buried in the ground or under the sea? That’s what CCS aims to do. In theory, this seems a good fix. In practice, however, the technology hasn’t been properly tried or tested and there are few practical applications of it on which to draw.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=9756.