MPs have backed an experiment to store surplus carbon dioxide in an empty natural gas chamber up to three km below the earth’s surface.

Despite earlier criticism, MPs agreed to back the plan after ministers agreed to set up a special fund for home owners who fear the value of their property may be hit.
The test will involve small-scale storage of gas produced at Shell’s Pernis refinery under a residential area in Barendrecht. If this proves successful, the project will be extended under a much larger area.
Economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven and environment minister Jacqueline Cramer told MPs last year the underground storage of excess CO2 is both safe and necessary. The chance of problems occurring is ‘zero’, the NRC quoted Cramer as saying.