Climeworks

Climeworks AG
Company typeAktiengesellschaft
IndustryDirect air capture
FoundedNovember 2009 (2009-11)
Headquarters
Zürich
,
Switzerland
Websitehttps://climeworks.com

Climeworks AG is a Swiss company specializing in direct air capture (DAC) technology. The company filters CO2 directly from the ambient air through an adsorption-desorption process.[1] At its first commercial direct air capture and storage plant, Orca, in Hellisheidi, Iceland, the air-captured CO2 is handed over to storage partner Carbfix, who injects it deep underground where it mineralizes and turns into stone.[2] Climeworks's machines are powered by renewable energy or energy-from-waste, with a carbon dioxide re-emission rate of less than 10%.[3]

The company was founded in 2009 by mechanical engineers Dr. Christoph Gebald and Dr. Jan Wurzbacher, who lead the company as co-CEOs. Climeworks has put more than 15 direct air capture plants into operation all over Europe. In addition to Dr. Gebald and Wurzbacher, other board members include Dr. Ulf Berg, Dr. Martin Burkhardt, Syrie Crouch, Alfred Gantner and Dr. Maurits van Tol. In Iceland, Climeworks operates a large-scale direct air capture and storage plant named 'Orca,' which is designed to remove carbon dioxide from the air permanently.[4] According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon removal technologies are necessary to mitigate climate change. The IPCC's modeled pathways show that to limit global warming to 1.5 °C with no or limited overshoot it would require up to 310 billion tons of direct air capture and storage by 2100.[5]

To contribute to the standardization and scale-up of high-quality, permanent removals, In September 2022, Climeworks and Carbfix introduced a comprehensive methodology dedicated to carbon dioxide removal through direct air capture and underground mineralization storage.[6] This methodology has been validated by the independent quality and assurance leader DNV. It provides the requirements for stringent standards by which measurement and reporting of Climeworks' carbon dioxide removal and Carbfix's permanent mineralization can be third-party verified.

  1. ^ Simon Evans (22 June 2017). "The Swiss company hoping to capture 1% of global CO2 emissions by 2025". Carbonbrief. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  2. ^ "World's biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 9 September 2021. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  3. ^ Deutz, Sarah; Bardow, André (February 2021). "Life-cycle assessment of an industrial direct air capture process based on temperature–vacuum swing adsorption". Nature Energy. 6 (2): 203–213. Bibcode:2021NatEn...6..203D. doi:10.1038/s41560-020-00771-9. ISSN 2058-7546.
  4. ^ "The world's biggest carbon-removal plant switches on". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  5. ^ "Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change". www.ipcc.ch. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  6. ^ George, Violet (19 September 2022). "Climeworks & Carbfix Get Approval For DAC+S Certification". Carbon Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2023.