Locking gas in the solid water lattice presents a nature-inspired approach for massive storage of fuel gas or sequestration of carbon dioxide securely in a solidified state. We have provided a novel conceptual framework of defect engineering for tailoring and controlling the gas encapsulation in the solid water lattice. This unprecedented defect engineering approach realizes the lattice defects as pathopening for boosting gas migration into the water lattice to overcome the inherent kinetics hurdle of conventional gas enclathration in ice. The founded defect engineering framework enables a bottom-up approach for unlocking the potential of gas storage in the solid water lattice toward energy storage and CO 2 sequestration applications.