Why the Swiss are shipping CO 2 to Iceland

Yesterday, Swiss President Alain Berset toured the Carbfix plant in Iceland and visited the facilities where the pilot project "DemoUpCARMA" is implemented. The project aims at injecting and storing CO₂ in the Icelandic underground. Marco Mazzotti, project coordinator and ETH Zurich professor, explains why Swiss CO₂ is being shipped all the way to Iceland. Why is the project being carried out in Iceland? - Iceland was selected for two reasons: It was the only country where a CO₂ storage site was available and ready to receive "foreign" CO₂. Other CO2 storage operations are being carried out but mostly with a national or company scope. Furthermore, Carbfix utilises a unique technology, whereby CO₂ dissolved in water is quickly mineralised after injection through a reaction with the basalt formation. As part of this Swiss-Icelandic cooperation, Carbfix will further pioneer a novel injection process, which uses seawater instead of freshwater.