Our vision
the long-term mark we want to make on the world
We dare to reclaim control of our climate future to protect our planet, the only home we have.
The science behind it clear: we need to limit global warming and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to ensure a livable future for generations to come on earth.
From the very beginning, we’ve worked to connect with humanity, tackling one of the world’s biggest crises: excess carbon in our atmosphere.
Our mission
what we do every day to get closer to our vision
By removing CO₂ we transform a global responsibility into an economic amplifier.
Climate change and global economic health are intertwined. We are on a mission to remove billions of tons of CO₂ delivering economic value to our customers, investors, and governments—demonstrating that a decarbonized world is key to growth and prosperity.
Climeworks ambitious journey
Our two co-founders, Jan and Christoph, met on their first day of university at ETH Zurich and quickly became friends. Aside from their love of engineering, they both shared a passion for alpine sports and spent much time in the Swiss Alps. Here, they experienced the effects of climate change first-hand. Shocked by the retreat of the glaciers, they vowed to do everything they could to tackle climate change.
Together, Jan and Christoph embarked on a journey toward a solution that would empower everyone to take climate action. As engineers at heart, they poured their efforts into working on a technology called direct air capture, a way to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. As a result, Climeworks was founded in 2009 and is now the global leader in direct air capture (DAC) technology. Since then Climeworks has advanced and today provides holistic carbon removal solutions, nature-based and engineered with Direct Air Capture as the core. Carbon removal advisors consult and tailor solution portfolios that deliver high-integrity removals for companies.
Watch the video for a short glimpse of Climeworks’ history
Our journey to gigaton scale
2050
Gigaton: Climeworks will achieve climate impact at scale.
2040
Multi-megaton: our capacity will keep on increasing as we approach our goal.
2030
Megaton: Climeworks’ technology will be rolled out globally.
2024
Tens of thousands of tons: Mammoth, Climeworks new and largest DAC+S plant, joins Orca in Iceland.
2014
Tons: Climeworks’ first small-scale DAC plant, a modular CO₂ collector, begins operation.
2012
Kilograms: We reached demonstration scale with the first demo prototype.
2009
Milligrams: Climeworks is founded by Jan and Christoph, who capture CO₂ from the air under lab conditions at the Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers (Prof. Steinfeld) of ETH Zurich.