Scientists in Iceland are turning carbon dioxide into stone by injecting it into volcanic rock, and it could redefine the fight against climate change

Edda Sif Pind Aradottir, a chemical and reservoir engineer and CEO of Carbfix, holds a sample of basalt rock at the Carbfix site in Iceland. Scientists in Iceland are demonstrating a groundbreaking way to tackle climate change by permanently turning carbon dioxide (CO₂) into stone deep beneath the Earth's surface. Instead of storing captured CO₂ as compressed gas, researchers dissolve it in water before injecting it into porous basalt, a volcanic rock rich in minerals. Once underground, the dissolved carbon reacts naturally with calcium, magnesium and iron in the basalt to form stable carbonate minerals, effectively locking the carbon away for geological timescales. The process, developed through the Carbfix project, has already shown that more than 95% of injected CO₂ can mineralise within two years, offering one of the most secure and durable forms of carbon storage currently available.Inside Iceland's Carbfix project turning carbon dioxide into stone Carbfix is an Icelandic carbon mineralisation project launched in 2007 as a collaboration between Reykjavík Energy, the University of Iceland, CNRS in France and Columbia University in the United States. The technology is based at t...