--- title: CO2 Turned Into Stone in Iceland Climate Change Breakthrough description: Researchers in Iceland found a new way of tackling climate change by pumping carbon dioxide underground and turning it into stone canonical: https://time.com/4364038/co2-stone-climate-change/ author: Rosalie Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-10T13:45:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:44:01.146Z article:section: Science og:title: Researchers Turn CO2 to Stone in Climate Change Breakthrough og:description: It's cheaper, but it's going to require tons of water og:url: https://time.com/4364038/co2-stone-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c9b64171a327e60/69889743bc6cfc28c93dd580/carbon-dioxide-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-CLIMATE-ICELAND-ENVIRONMENT-CHEMISTRY-SCIENCE-RESEARCH og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Researchers Turn CO2 to Stone in Climate Change Breakthrough twitter:description: It's cheaper, but it's going to require tons of water twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c9b64171a327e60/69889743bc6cfc28c93dd580/carbon-dioxide-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Researchers Turn CO2 Into Stone in Climate Change Breakthrough by [Rosalie Chan](https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Jun 10, 2016 1:45 PM UTC  An experimental drill core held by coauthor Sandra Snaebjornsdottir in Iceland, laced with solidified carbonate, apparently produced by a new process that turns carbon emissions to stone when pumped underground. An experimental drill core held by coauthor Sandra Snaebjornsdottir in Iceland, laced with solidified carbonate, apparently produced by a new process that turns carbon emissions to stone when pumped underground.Kevin Krajick—AFP/Getty Images by [Rosalie Chan](https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Jun 10, 2016 1:45 PM UTC Researchers in Iceland found a new way of tackling [climate change](http://time.com/4209510/climate-change-poor-countries/?iid=sr-link10) by pumping [carbon dioxide](http://time.com/116131/un-co2-levels-greenhouse-gases/?iid=sr-link10) underground and turning it into stone. Other carbon capture and storage (CCS) methods store CO2 as a gas, but problems include a high cost and concern about leakage. This new method of burying CO2 and turning it into stone is cheaper and more secure, [the _Guardian_ reports.](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/09/co2-turned-into-stone-in-iceland-in-climate-change-breakthrough) To turn C02 to stone, researchers with the [Carbfix project](https://www.or.is/english/carbfix-project) pumped the gas into volcanic rock and sped up the natural process in which basalts react with gas and form carbonate minerals. The gas turned into solid in just two years—much faster than the hundreds or thousands of years researchers had predicted. The research took place at Iceland’s Hellisheidi power plant, the largest geothermal facility in the world. Already, the project in Iceland has been increased in scale to bury 10,000 tons of [CO2](http://time.com/4099460/china-coal-carbon/?iid=sr-link1) each year.  The Hellisheidi Geothermal Plant near Reykjavik, Iceland on Aug. 14, 2015. Larry MacDougal—AP One potential difficulty is that for each ton of CO2 buried, the technique requires 25 tons of water. However, Juerg Matter of the University of Southampton in the U.K., who led the research, said seawater could be used. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/09/co2-turned-into-stone-in-iceland-in-climate-change-breakthrough)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4364038/co2-stone-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4364038/co2-stone-climate-change/"},"headline":"Researchers Turn CO2 Into Stone in Climate Change Breakthrough","datePublished":"2016-06-10T13:45:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:44:01.146Z","description":"It's cheaper, but it's going to require tons of water","url":"https://time.com/4364038/co2-stone-climate-change/","keywords":["Environment","Tech","climate change","Know Right Now"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c9b64171a327e60/69889743bc6cfc28c93dd580/carbon-dioxide-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rosalie Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c9b64171a327e60/69889743bc6cfc28c93dd580/carbon-dioxide-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-CLIMATE-ICELAND-ENVIRONMENT-CHEMISTRY-SCIENCE-RESEARCH","caption":"An experimental drill core held by coauthor Sandra Snaebjornsdottir in Iceland, laced with solidified carbonate, apparently produced by a new process that turns carbon emissions to stone when pumped underground.","creditText":"Kevin Krajick—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4364038/co2-stone-climate-change/","name":"Researchers Turn CO2 Into Stone in Climate Change Breakthrough"}}]}] ```