North American Carbon Storage Atlas

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We have archived this page and will not be updating it.

You can use it for research or reference.

Project type	Assessment of CO2 geological storage potential in North America
Project proponents	Canada, Mexico and the United States
Project timeframe	2008 to 2012
Project locations	Canada, Mexico and the United States
Funding
Federal government	$1.2 million
Provincial governments	In-kind support
Mexico, United States	Each country was responsible for the cost of its own efforts.

Project description:

Canada, Mexico and the United States have collaborated to produce an atlas of North America that identifies major stationary sources of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and potential geological storage reservoirs for CO₂. The atlas will be used to develop a comprehensive understanding of the potential for carbon capture and storage in North America. To map the CO₂ sources and geological storage reservoirs, the three countries agreed on a common methodology for estimating geological reservoir capacities, an appropriate scale and resolution for the data, a data-sharing protocol, and a process for treating common cross-border areas. The project was initiated as the North American Carbon Atlas Partnership under the North American Energy Working Group but has since been expanded under the U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue.

Outcomes:

The project facilitated the gathering and sharing of data on stationary CO₂ sources and storage reservoirs among the three countries in support of a uniform geographic information system. It accomplished the objective of creating a common portal, where data from different states, provinces or organizations in the three countries can be accessed in a similar format. Having a common methodology for estimating capacity was particularly relevant for cross-border reservoirs. The atlas was published both in paper and online in May 2012.

Proponent and partners’  profiles:

Government/department	Other participants
Natural Resources Canada - Office of Energy R&D - Geological Survey of Canada - Mapping Information Branch	Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (formerly Alberta Research Council)
U.S. Department of Energy	Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership
U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory	Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB)
U.S. Geological Survey	West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (WESTCARB)
Secretaría de Energía de México (Mexican Department of Energy)	Southwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SWP)
Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Federal Electricity Commission)	Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP)
	Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC)
	West Virginia University
	IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG)

Find out more:

The North American Carbon Storage Atlas
Download the PDF (PDF, 1,189 KB)