In addition to drastic emissions reduction efforts, climate scientists agree that removing historic and residual CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere is crucial to reach net zero emissions no later than 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Direct air capture and storage alone is expected to remove up to 310 billion tons of CO₂ by 2100.
In its net zero standard for companies, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) recognizes that an economy-wide emissions reduction of at least 90% by 2050 is required and the remaining 10% must be neutralized by carbon removal solutions to reach net zero. Therefore, a credible and science-based corporate climate strategy today includes the removal of carbon emissions, for example via technology solutions like Climeworks'.
Carbon removal solutions are key to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees and achieve net-negative emissions afterwards
Climeworks' direct air capture technology combined with permanent storage removes historic and residual CO₂ emissions from the air. In Iceland, Climeworks operates the world's first commercial, large-scale direct air capture and storage plant, called Orca. In June 2022, we announced the groundbreaking of Mammoth, our second commercial facility in Iceland. For both Orca and Mammoth, our CO₂ storage partner Carbfix provides the geologic storage of our air-captured CO₂.
When compared to other carbon dioxide removal solutions, nature-based or technical, Climeworks provides a unique solution that is:
We combine our direct air capture technology with the permanent geologic storage of CO₂ - a natural process that provides the most secure long-term storage.
Climeworks' carbon removal solution is truly additional. Our direct air capture plants would not be built without our customers and the CO₂ would stay in the atmosphere.
There is no uncertainty about how much CO₂ is removed by Climeworks because we can exactly measure how much CO₂ our machines capture.
Climeworks' modular technology is location independent and has a small land footprint. It is highly scalable with immense cost-reduction potential.
Microsoft’s commitments are a core example of businesses taking climate action: negative emissions by 2030, removal of all historic emissions by 2050. To achieve these goals, Microsoft selected a portfolio of promising negative emissions technologies available today to remove their emissions on top of reducing their emissions. Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal has been selected in Microsoft’s carbon removal portfolio, after successfully passing an extensive application process. In 2022 they renewed support and commitment to Climeworks - this time with a 10-year offtake agreement
In September 2020, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) announced a bold new commitment to achieve net-zero climate impact by 2030 and, from there, to become climate positive, removing more carbon from the atmosphere than they annually emit. BCG has now signed a 10-year agreement with Climeworks, which will remove part of BCG’s unavoidable CO₂ emissions and is thus an important part of the company’s net-zero strategy.
LGT, the world’s largest family-owned private banking and asset management group, has signed a ten-year carbon removal agreement with Climeworks to remove 9’000 tons of CO₂ from the air – the largest-ever direct air capture agreement signed by a bank. LGT’s purchase is the third ten-year agreement for Climeworks within just 5 months, showing that the long-term demand for high-quality carbon removal, such as Climeworks’ direct air capture and storage, is strongly increasing.
The leading re-insurance company Swiss Re is walking the talk after committing in 2019 to net-zero operational emissions by 2030. Following their guiding principle “do our best, remove the rest” they committed to the world’s first and largest 10-year purchase agreement for direct air capture and storage of carbon dioxide worth 10 million USD with Climeworks. It is signalling once again that scalable solutions like Climeworks’ technology are crucial to reach the Paris Agreement climate targets.