The mining giant has put US$3 million towards research by the University of Melbourne, University of Cambridge and Stanford University, to improve global understanding of carbon dioxide storage and support the development of large-scale CCS projects in the future.

BHP vice president of sustainability and climate change Dr Fiona Wild said the partnerships would progress understanding of how porous rock could securely trap carbon dioxide.

"There is growing acknowledgement from industry, governments and society that to meet emissions reductions targets, and the world's commitments to limit warming to below 2C, we are going to need to accelerate the use of CCS," she said.

"Our focus at BHP is how we can help make sure the world has access to the information required to make it work at scale in a cost-effective and timely way."

In a blog last week, Wild pondered whether the cost of CCS would fall dramatically like the cost of solar panels did after China started making major investments in the technology.

BHP's funding follows a three-year, $7.37 million agreement struck with Peking University last year to look at carbon capture, use and storage for steel production in China.

The company set up the SaskPower Carbon Capture Knowledge Centre in February 2016 to share learnings on CCS for the power sector from the Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan, Canada.