Increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration due to the combustion of fossil fuels has been linked to the presently observed global warming phenomenon. In order to mitigate excessive emissions, efforts are underway to capture CO₂ from various emission sources and sequester it underground. In parallel, utilization of the captured CO₂ to produce value added products and fuels has also been advocated. Among these products, methanol, which can be used as a fuel and fuel additive, is of particular interest. Methanol can be synthesized by hydrogenation of CO₂ and could therefore lead to a carbon neutral cycle in the frame of a methanol economy, as proposed by the late professor George Olah. In this review, we reflect upon the recent advances in homogeneous reduction of CO₂ to methanol using molecular H₂. This research area has seen significant progress over the last five years and the recent studies for this challenging transformation are discussed herein. Catalyst activity, selectivity, reaction mechanism and other aspects are analyzed. We also comment on future prospects awaiting exploration to improve the catalytic systems for this reduction. We hope that this review will provide the reader with an overview of the current state of the art on homogeneous CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol in a concise manner and provide potential directions in which further investigations can be undertaken in order to eventually make this process economically viable.

由于化石燃料的燃烧，大气中CO ₂浓度的增加与目前观察到的全球变暖现象有关。为了减轻过量排放，正在努力从各种排放源捕获CO ₂并将其隔离在地下。同时，还提倡利用捕获的CO ₂生产增值产品和燃料。在这些产品中，可以用作燃料和燃料添加剂的甲醇特别受关注。甲醇可以通过CO ₂的氢化来合成正如已故教授乔治·奥拉（George Olah）所建议的那样，因此可能会在甲醇经济中导致碳中和循环。在这篇综述中，我们回顾了使用分子H ₂将CO ₂均匀还原为甲醇的最新进展。在过去的五年中，该研究领域取得了重大进展，本文讨论了这一具有挑战性的转变的最新研究。分析了催化剂的活性，选择性，反应机理等方面。我们还评论了等待探索以改善该还原反应的催化系统的未来前景。我们希望这篇评论为读者提供有关均相CO ₂的最新技术的概述。 以简明的方式氢化为甲醇，并提供了可能的方向，可以进行进一步的研究以最终使该方法在经济上可行。