In Iceland, CO2 sucked from the air is turned to rock

Thomas Ratouis, head of reservoir engineering for Carbfix at the Hellisheidi power plant near Reykjavik, showing a rock with unfilled pore (centre), a rock with white dots, which is a core of basaltic rock where CO2 is mineralised (left) and a transparant/white rock called calcite, a carbonate mineral with calcium and CO2. Photo: Halldor Kolbeins/AFP

At the foot of an Icelandic volcano, a newly-opened plant is sucking carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and turning it to rock, locking away the main culprit behind global warming.

Orca, based on the Icelandic word for "energy", does its cutting-edge work at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant in southwest Iceland.