Carbon dioxide is a colorless, odorless and chemically inert gas that is both readily available and electrically non-conductive. It extinguishes fire primarily by lowering the level of 0xygen that supports combustion in a protected area. This mechanism of fire suppression makes CO2 suppression highly effective, requiring minimal clean-up, but should be used in normally unoccupied hazard locations or otherwise avoided personnel when discharged. CO2 suppression systems may utilize the gas through a total flooding approach but carbon dioxide is also the only gaseous agent that may be utilized through local application. Marine Offshore Carbon dioxide are stored high pressure spun steel cylinders (HPCO2 Suppression Systems).

Typical application for carbon dioxide systems are flammable liquid storage, transformers, rotating electrical equipment, power generation, metal processing facilities, printing industry, paint mix, machining facilities etc.