Abstract: Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) has been recognized as an effective way to mitigate emission of CO₂ to the atmosphere and may become a critical technology for global CO₂ mitigation, however, the risk of CO₂ leaking from its geologic storage will pose a potential threat to the terrestrial ecosystem, especially the near-surface terrestrial ecosystem. From the aspects of the three major components (ground water, soil and vegetation) of the near-surface terrestrial ecosystem, a review is presented of the potential impact of the leakage on the ecosystem and its process, and progresses and shortcomings of the researches, abroad and at home, in this field are summarized. On such a basis, it is pointed out indicated that the study on impacts of CO₂ leakage from its geologic storage should be focused on evaluation of its impacts on farmland ecosystems, determination of threshold of tolerance of the ecosystems to the leakage, construction of an early warning system for CO₂ leakage, and proposition of a system of countermeasures for the terrestrial ecosystem to avoid or mitigate disasters CO₂ leakage may cause.  

Key words: carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), CO₂ leakage, soil CO₂ concentration, terrestrial ecological system, impact