Climeworks’ response to the IPCC report

News | 11.10.2018

Climeworks’ response to the IPCC report

The latest IPCC report published on Monday 8th October made clear that in addition to reducing worldwide emissions, we need to actively remove CO₂ from our atmosphere. This is the only way to protect humanity against the worst consequences of global warming. For the past decade, we have been working on developing and deploying our direct air capture (DAC) technology and now have several operational plants around the world.

The global potential for developing DAC technology, combined with underground mineralization – often referred to as direct air capture and storage (DACS) – is enormous: Climeworks DACS plants can be built anywhere basalt rock and renewable energy sources are available. More importantly, DACS has minimal impact on land and ecosystems and requires no water.

In October 2017, we launched a pilot plant in Iceland as part of the Horizon 2020-funded CarbFix2 project. After a successful year-long demonstration of DACS as a safe, permanent and scalable technology, Climeworks and the CarbFix consortium is now ready to start the project-planning phase for expanding its DACS capacity. With this expansion, the plan is to offer individuals, countries, businesses and institutions the opportunity to reverse their past, present and future emissions, permanently and safely.

We are using our social media channels to keep everyone informed on future developments. Stay tuned on our TwitterFacebook or LinkedIn channels, or subscribe to our Newsletter.

Climeworks' direct air capture plant in Hinwil, Switzerland

Climeworks' direct air capture plant in Hinwil, Switzerland

Key take-aways

  • IPCC report makes clear that we need to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
  • Climeworks has developed a direct air capture technology with which carbon dioxide can be removed from the air, efficiently and permanently, and plans to scale operations in the years to come

Learn more about direct air capture