Maturing global CO₂ storage resources on offshore continental margins to achieve 2DS emissions reductions

Most studies on CO₂ emissions reduction strategies that address the 'two-degree scenario' (2DS) recognize a significant role for CCS. For CCS to be effective, it must be deployed globally on both existing and emerging energy systems. For nations with large-scale emissions, offshore geologic CO₂ storage provides an attractive and efficient long-term strategy. While some nations are already developing CCS projects using offshore CO₂ storage resources, most geographic regions have yet to begin. This paper demonstrates the geologic significance of global continental margins for providing broadly-equitable, geographically-relevant, and high-quality CO₂ storage resources. We then use principles of pore-space utilization and subsurface pressure constraints together with analogs of historic industry well deployment rates to demonstrate how the required storage capacity can be developed as a function of time and technical maturity to enable the global deployment of offshore storage for facilitating 2DS. Our analysis indicates that 10-14 thousand CO₂ injection wells will be needed globally by 2050 to achieve this goal.