Iceland opened formal energy and climate talks with India across three named technology streams — geothermal, carbon capture and storage, and green hydrogen — Environment Minister Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson confirmed to StratNews Global in an interview this week.

The minister framed India's geothermal resource base as "largely untapped." Bilateral cooperation now targets direct-use applications: industrial cooling, district heating, and agricultural drying — segments where thermal output, not electricity, drives the commercial case.

What is Iceland actually offering?

Three streams anchor the pitch.

First, in-situ carbon storage. Carbfix, the Icelandic carbon mineralization pioneer, holds active discussions with Indian industrial producers to evaluate underground injection of captured CO2 for permanent storage as mineral carbonates — its core technology.

Second, CO2 utilization. Icelandic cleantech firms scope projects to convert captured CO2 from Indian steel mills into synthetic methane. Smelter flue gas would feed methanation reactors, yielding synthetic natural gas that displaces imports at the same site.

Third, deep geothermal. Iceland pushes next-generation drilling techniques to access supercritical fluids — high-temperature, high-pressure resources that multiply per-well power yield compared with conventional wells. The transfer targets India's firm-power gap.

"India can create opportunities for us to scale up the technologies and know-how that we have already developed in our small country," Jóhannsson said. He tied the partnership's technology base to domestic energy security imperatives during the 1970s oil crises.

The deployment vehicle is the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement — the framework New Delhi signed with the European Free Trade Association bloc of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein — designed to move Icelandic subterranean and geothermal engineering IP into Indian industrial projects at scale.

Why steel mills specifically?

Indian steel works anchor the CO2-to-methane pilot list. Steel sites offer concentrated, point-source flue gas streams — feedstocks that pair directly with methanation. Capturing that CO2 and routing it to conversion reactors produces synthetic methane on-site.

Underground mineralization handles residual CO2 that methanation does not convert. Carbfix injects dissolved CO2 into reactive rock formations, where it mineralizes into stable carbonate. The two technologies stack: utilization first, permanent geological storage second.

The pairing fits the harder-to-abate segments of India's heavy industry — facilities such as integrated steel works that cannot easily electrify and continue to run on coal and imported hydrocarbons.

Where does green hydrogen fit?

Green hydrogen rounds out the three-pillar pitch. Iceland's renewable-heavy grid — predominantly geothermal and hydro — supplies firm, baseload electricity. The minister positions that resource against India's growing demand for industrial cooling and firm power.

The strategic alignment pairs Iceland's specialized subterranean and geothermal engineering expertise with India's industrial scale, capital resources, and manufacturing capacity. The play: Iceland holds technology IP across geothermal, carbon management, and green hydrogen; India holds scale.

What changes next?

The next operational milestone sits at project deployment level under the India-EFTA framework. Jóhannsson did not name steel mill sites or commit capacity figures in the published interview. Watch for Carbfix pilot announcements, methanation partner disclosures, and Indian government tender windows tied to EFTA implementation schedules.

The minister's timeline language points to technology transfer and pilot scoping rather than commercial-scale buildout in the near term. Investment size, plant capacity numbers, and permit deadlines will appear in subsequent filings from Carbfix and partner firms once site selection advances — the regulatory and market milestone that decides whether the Iceland-India talks produce operating facilities or stay at memorandum stage.