Bioinspired materials (BMs) are one of the most attractive candidates for various environmental applications. BMs are synthesized like as natural materials with many excellent properties. These BMs can be crystalline, flexible, and tunable porous, while maintaining chemical and thermal stability. BMs are used in high-pressure adsorption and catalytic applications (with possible key-lock bonding mechanisms). Through surface functionalization, they can also be employed in diverse areas such as drug delivery, diagnosis, and sensing. Likewise, recent progress in BMs, especially for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and energy applications, has been attributed to their superior function (e.g., artificial photosynthesis and cycloaddition) and their ability to provide useful final products (e.g., renewable energy). In this review, we evaluated the different types of BMs and their roles in CCS and energy applications. The discussion is extended further to cover diverse research interests in this emerging field. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.