Ices of mixtures of carbon dioxide and methanol have been studied in a range of temperatures relevant for starforming regions, comets, polar caps of planets and satellites, and other solar system bodies. We have performed temperature-programmed desorption measurements and recorded IR spectra of various types of samples. The presence of two slightly different structures of CO 2 is manifest. A distorted CO 2 structure is characterized by bandshifts between 5 cm −1 (ν 3 ) and 10 cm −1 (ν 2 ) with respect to normal CO 2 . If the samples are heated above 130 K, the distorted CO 2 sublimates and only the normal structure remains. The latter can stay trapped until the sublimation of crystalline methanol (150 K). The desorption energy (E d ∼ 20 kJ mol −1 ) of CO 2 from methanol ice, and the specific adsorption surface area (6 m 2 g −1 ) of amorphous CH 3 OH ice, have been determined. CO 2 does not penetrate into crystalline ice. Whereas the desorption energy is similar to that of CO 2 /H 2 O samples, the specific surface of methanol is much smaller than that of amorphous solid water (ASW). The interaction of CO 2 molecules with water and methanol is similar but ices of CH 3 OH are much less porous than ASW. The inclusion of CO 2 into previously formed ices containing these two species would take place preferentially into ASW. However, in processes of simultaneous deposition, methanol ice can admit a larger amount of CO 2 than water ice. CO 2 /CH 3 OH ices formed by simultaneous deposition admit two orders of magnitude more CO 2 than sequentially deposited ices. These findings can have direct relevance to the interpretation of observations from protostellar environments (e.g., RAFGL7009S) and comet nuclei.