On Monday researchers at the small town of Ketzin near Berlin began pumping carbon dioxide into the ground, the first time this has been done in mainland Europe.

In two years the German Research Centre for Geosciences plans to store 60,000 tons of the greenhouse gas over 600 metres below ground in saltwater-saturated porous rocks (press release). Scientists will then see what happens, aiming to “fill the gap between the numerous conceptual engineering and scientific studies on geological storage and a fully-fledged onshore storage demonstration” (project website).

“The main goal of the project is to develop and test ways of monitoring the stored CO2,” says Hilke Wuerdemann, of the centre (Deutsche Welle)

Spiegel says if the sequestration project is successful it could be used with the nearby Vattenfall coal power plant. There have been concerns, notably from Greenpeace about the facility, especially the potential for the carbon dioxide to leak out of the rock (AFP),

The CO2SINK project is being support by the European Union and features in the 2006 Nature feature Putting the carbon back: The hundred billion tonne challenge.

More on carbon sequestration from Nature

Carbon burial buried article from 2008

A handful of carbon commentary from 2007

Capturing carbon editorial from 2006