Nottingham: Smart particle could hold climate change key

By Sally Bowman, BBC East Midlands environment correspondent

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has long been proposed as essential to national plans for a carbon-neutral future.

The idea is that carbon dioxide from energy-hungry industries is intercepted before it enters the atmosphere and is then transported for permanent storage deep underground.

The UK has announced several carbon capture projects as part of its pledge to capture and store 20 to 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030.

Yet so far, CCS has proved expensive and energy-intensive. No large-scale project is yet up and running.

Critics see it as a dangerous distraction from the need to rapidly reduce emissions.

The potential for MOFs to first filter out greenhouse gases at source, and then store them for easier transportation, is what has got the experts excited.

But up to now, the cost of these nanoparticles has made that eye-wateringly expensive.

If MOFs could be produced for a fraction of the current price, it could be a game-changer for CCS and good news for a fast-warming planet.