Latest news with #directaircapture
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Direct Air Capture Market Poised for Explosive 43.3% CAGR Growth, Reaching USD 6.93 Billion by 2035
Climate technology sector sees explosive growth as companies invest billions in carbon removal solutions to meet net-zero commitments REDDING, Calif., June 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The global direct air capture market will surge from $136.5 million in 2024 to $6.93 billion by 2035, representing a 43.3% CAGR from 2025, according to new research from Meticulous Research®. The comprehensive market analysis, titled "Direct Air Capture Market by Technology (Solid Sorbent Systems, Liquid Solvent Systems, Membrane-Based Systems), Capture Method (Chemical Absorption, Membrane Separation), End User (Oil & Gas, Chemical Industry, Transportation) - Global Forecast to 2035," reveals that climate urgency and corporate net-zero commitments are driving the adoption of carbon removal technologies across industries. "Direct air capture has evolved from experimental technology to essential infrastructure for achieving global climate goals," said Uddhav Sable, Research Director at Meticulous Research®. "With over 70 countries committed to net-zero targets and more than 3,000 companies establishing science-based climate goals, atmospheric CO2 removal is becoming critical for hard-to-abate sectors including aviation, shipping and heavy industry." Get your free sample report: Carbon Credit Economics Drive Investment Rising carbon credit prices are transforming direct air capture economics, with high-quality removal credits commanding premium prices exceeding $600 per ton. Voluntary carbon markets are projected to reach $100 billion annually by 2030, creating sustainable revenue streams for DAC project operators. Government policy support is accelerating deployment through substantial incentives. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act provides up to $180 per ton in tax credits for direct air capture with permanent storage, while European Union carbon border adjustment mechanisms establish regulatory drivers complementing financial incentives. "Economic viability has dramatically improved as carbon credit prices appreciate and government incentives reduce project risks," Uddhav noted. "DAC companies have attracted over $2 billion in venture capital and corporate investment during the past two years, with funding increasingly focused on commercial-scale deployment." Technology Segments Show Distinct Growth Patterns Solid sorbent systems dominate the overall carbon capture current in 2025 through proven operational reliability and demonstrated scalability in commercial applications. Companies including Climeworks and Carbon Engineering have validated solid sorbent systems in operational facilities, establishing technical benchmarks for industry deployment. However, membrane-based systems represent the fastest-growing technology category, offering continuous operation capabilities and reduced chemical inputs compared to traditional absorption methods. Recent breakthroughs in selective membrane materials enable efficient CO2 separation while minimizing energy consumption. Industrial Applications Expand Market Reach The oil and gas sector represents the largest end-user segment, leveraging captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery while addressing corporate carbon neutrality commitments. Major energy companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP are investing billions in DAC infrastructure as part of comprehensive decarbonization strategies. Chemical manufacturers demonstrate the highest growth as they integrate captured atmospheric CO2 as feedstock for sustainable production. This carbon utilization approach creates economic value while removing CO2 from the atmosphere, enabling circular carbon economy development. Transportation sectors including aviation and shipping increasingly rely on direct air capture for offsetting unavoidable emissions. Airlines including United, American and Delta have committed to purchasing millions of tons of DAC-based carbon removal credits, creating substantial demand for permanent CO2 removal services. Request Customization: Regional Markets Show Divergent Growth Strategies North America maintains market leadership through supportive federal and state policies, substantial private investment and operational commercial facilities. The United States hosts the world's largest operational DAC facilities while providing generous tax incentives for carbon removal projects. Europe leads innovation through Switzerland's operational commercial facilities and comprehensive carbon removal policies. Companies like Climeworks have demonstrated commercial viability while European policymakers develop carbon removal mandates creating sustained demand. Asia-Pacific demonstrates the highest regional growth potential through China's massive industrial decarbonization requirements and government investments in carbon capture research. China's commitment to carbon neutrality by 2060 creates enormous market opportunities for technology providers. Investment Landscape Creates Growth Opportunities Strategic partnerships between technology providers and end users are accelerating market development while sharing risks associated with large-scale projects. These collaborations combine technical expertise with operational experience and financial resources necessary for gigaton-scale carbon removal. Carbon utilization applications including sustainable fuels, chemicals and building materials create additional revenue streams improving project economics. These applications generate premium prices for captured CO2 while meeting growing demand for sustainable products across industries. The competitive landscape features dynamic competition between established engineering companies, specialized carbon capture developers and renewable energy integrators. Key participants include Carbon Engineering Ltd., Climeworks AG, Global Thermostat LLC, Heirloom Carbon Technologies Inc., Carbfix ehf., Svante Inc. and Verdox Inc. Related Industry Reports: Carbon Accounting Software Market Size ($7B by 2032) | 23% CAGR | Industry Analysis 2025-2032 Biodiversity & Natural Capital Credit Market Outlook 2032 Activated Carbon Market Size, Share, Trends & Report 2032 About Meticulous Research® Meticulous Research® was founded in 2010 and incorporated as Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd. in 2013 as a private limited company under the Companies Act, 1956. Since its incorporation, the company has become the leading provider of premium market intelligence, strategic insights, and consulting services to serve clients across 11 major industries globally. Meticulous Research® offers comprehensive market research reports, custom research, and consulting services. Our research studies help clients make informed business decisions and understand emerging business trends and opportunities. The company's expertise spans across various domains, enabling it to provide accurate insights and strategic recommendations to its clients. Contact Information:Mr. Khushal BombeMeticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd.1267 Willis St, Ste 200 Redding, California, 96001, USA: +1-646-781-8004 | Europe: +44-203-868-8738 | APAC: +91 744-7780008Email: sales@ Source: Logo: View original content: SOURCE Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd. Sign in to access your portfolio
CBC
01-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Sucking carbon from the air; companies using AI bots for hiring: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet
Social Sharing Miss something this week? Don't panic. CBC's Marketplace rounds up the consumer and health news you need. Want this in your inbox? Get the Marketplace newsletter every Friday. How one company plans to suck carbon right out of the air (and make money doing it) Just off the highway near Innisfail, Alta., a town about 120 kilometres north of Calgary, is a construction site immediately identified by a large tent boasting the words "Deep Sky" in a groovy, arcade-style font. The roughly two-hectare facility, still under construction, is hosting what could be called a carbon-removal Olympics. It will test eight different versions of a similar technology using various machines that will suck in air, remove the carbon dioxide and send it to a central plant, where it will be compressed and liquified for storage deep underground. The winner of this initiative won't get a medal on a podium. Instead, Deep Sky, the Montreal-based project developer behind it, plans to take the best versions of the direct air capture technology that prove most effective in Canada's climate and deploy them on a commercial scale all over the country. "There are some preliminary data points about this for sure, but has anyone run this system in –30 C yet?" asked Alex Petre, the new CEO of Deep Sky, indicating one of the recently installed direct air capture machines. "No, we haven't." The company is so confident this will be successful that it's already begun initial work on two commercial projects, one in Quebec and the other in Manitoba. That's despite not yet knowing how they will be fully financed or which technology will be put to use. A B.C. couple waited weeks to get their stillborn daughter's remains. Then, they were invoiced for her autopsy Nick Bordignon was still deep in grief over the death of his infant daughter last October when an envelope from B.C.'s Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) turned up in his mailbox. It was addressed to the infant he and his wife had named Makayla Poppy when she was delivered at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody, B.C., four weeks earlier following an ultrasound that showed the child was dead. Inside was an invoice for the cost of an autopsy and an itemized list of tests conducted by a coroner, a bill the PHSA has since admitted the Bordignons were never supposed to see. And to make matters worse, the letter seemed to indicate Makayla's body was still in the morgue — two weeks after the autopsy was performed and nearly a month after she was stillborn. "I remember just standing there in disbelief ... and the initial confusion very quickly turned to rage," said Bordignon, who works as a police officer. "I'm no fool, I've seen autopsies performed, they are not pretty ... it was soul-crushing and just wrong.... It's just like, OK, so if this is an itemized list, this means the autopsy has been done. Where is she?" CBC News has learned that the Bordignons' concerns about both the invoice and the delay in releasing Makayla's body are now under investigation by B.C.'s Patient Care Quality Review Board — the body tasked with reviewing complaints about health authority policies and procedure. The story highlights what experts say is a lack of standardized care when it comes to stillbirths, which can result in errors that traumatize already grieving families. In a letter, the health services authority apologized for the invoice and said the charges for the autopsy had been reversed. After the Bordignons received the invoice in the mail and called the hospital, the process of getting Makayla's remains home unfolded quickly. Canada Post reports $1.3B operating loss with declines in both letter and parcel revenue Canada Post is reporting a $1.3-billion loss in operating expenses in its 2024 annual report. The Crown corporation made up for some of those losses by selling off certain ventures, including its logistics business, which it sold in January of last year. Excluding tax — and accounting for its divestments — Canada Post's losses totalled $841 million last year. That's larger than the $748-million loss reported in 2023, and in 2022 when it lost $548 million. The last time Canada Post made a profit was in 2017. Overall, the Crown corporation says it has lost $3.8 billion since 2018. Canada Post said in a news release that volumes and revenues declined in both traditional letter and parcel delivery and that the corporation faces stiff competition from private parcel carriers. "Our current structure was built for a bygone era of letter mail — the status quo has led us to the verge of financial insolvency and is not an option. The need to change, respond to our challenges and secure this important infrastructure for the future is more urgent than ever before," CEO Doug Ettinger said in the news release. Revenue from parcel delivery alone fell by $683 million compared with 2023, the report says. The corporation also said the postal worker strike late last year contributed to a loss of $208 million. This latest annual report comes with another potential strike looming. The last strike ended when the federal government ordered employees back to work under their existing contracts, which were extended until May 22 to allow the bargaining process to resume. What else is going on? PM says U.S. tariffs are 'unlawful' and 'unjustified' — and now a court agrees, in part. Her job interview was with an AI bot. It was odd Companies are using AI hiring bots to screen, shortlist and talk to job candidates. Advocates say the technology frees up human workers from tedious tasks, but some applicants say it adds confusion to the process, and there are concerns about HR job losses. Marketplace needs your help! Have you experienced a customer service nightmare? We're looking for frustrating, absurd or outrageously bad customer service stories. If you've been given the runaround or wrong info, or have been ignored or hung up on, share your story with us! We want to know who you think are the worst offenders. Email us at marketplace@
CNN
30-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
This company says its technology can help save the world. It's now cutting 20% of its staff as Trump slashes climate funding
Climate change Donald Trump Air quality PollutionFacebookTweetLink Follow Two huge plants in Iceland operate like giant vacuum cleaners, sucking in air and stripping out planet-heating carbon pollution. This much-hyped climate technology is called direct air capture, and the company behind these plants, Switzerland-based Climeworks, is perhaps its most high-profile proponent. But a year after opening a huge new facility, Climeworks is straining against strong headwinds. The company announced this month it would lay off around 20% of its workforce, blaming economic uncertainties and shifting climate policy priorities. 'We've always known this journey would be demanding. Today, we find ourselves navigating a challenging time,' Climeworks' CEOs Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher said in a statement. This is particularly true of its US ambitions. A new direct air capture plant planned for Louisiana, which received $50 million in funding from the Biden administration, hangs in the balance as President Donald Trump slashes climate funding. Climeworks also faces mounting criticism for operating at only a fraction of its maximum capacity, and for failing to remove more climate pollution than it emits. The company says these are teething pains inherent in setting up a new industry from scratch and that it has entered a new phase of global scale up. 'The overall trajectory will be positive as we continue to define the technology,' said a Climeworks spokesperson. For critics, however, these headwinds are evidence direct air capture is an expensive, shiny distraction from effective climate action. Climeworks, which launched in 2009, is among around 140 direct air capture companies globally, but is one of the most high-profile and best funded. In 2021, it opened its Orca plant in Iceland, followed in 2024 by a second called Mammoth. These facilities suck in air and extract carbon using chemicals in a process powered by clean, geothermal energy. The carbon can then be reused or injected deep underground where it will be naturally transformed into stone, locking it up permanently. Climeworks makes its money by selling credits to companies to offset their own climate pollution. The appeal of direct air capture is clear; to keep global warming from rising to even more catastrophic levels means drastically cutting back on planet-heating fossil fuels. But many scientists say the world will also need to remove some of the carbon pollution already in the atmosphere. This can be done naturally, for example through tree planting, or with technology like direct air capture. The advantage of direct air capture is that carbon is removed from the air immediately and 'can be measured directly and accurately,' said Howard Herzog, senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative. But there are big challenges, he told CNN. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been shooting upward, but still only makes up about 0.04%. Herzog compares removing carbon directly from the air to needing to find 10 red marbles in a jar of 25,000 marbles of which 24,990 are blue. This makes the process energy-intensive and expensive. The technology also takes time to scale. Climeworks hasn't come anywhere close to the full capacity of its plants. Orca can remove a maximum of 4,000 tons of carbon a year, but it has never captured more than 1,700 tons in a year since it opened in 2021. The company says single months have seen a capture rate much closer to the maximum. The company's Mammoth plant has a maximum capacity of 36,000 tons a year but since it opened last year it has removed a total of 805 tons, a figure which goes down to 121 tons when taking into account the carbon produced building and running the plants. 'It's true that both plants are not yet operating at the capacity we originally targeted,' said the Climeworks spokesperson. 'Like all transformative innovations, progress is iterative, and some steps may take longer than anticipated,' they said. The company's prospective third plant in Louisiana aims to remove 1 million tons of carbon a year by 2030, but it's uncertain whether construction will proceed under the Trump administration. A Department of Energy spokesperson said a department-wide review was underway 'to ensure all activities follow the law, comply with applicable court orders and align with the Trump administration's priorities.' The government has a mandate 'to unleash 'American Energy Dominance',' they added. Direct air capture's success will also depend on companies' willingness to buy carbon credits. Currently companies are pretty free to 'use the atmosphere as a waste dump,' said Holly Buck, assistant professor of environment and sustainability at the University at Buffalo. 'This lack of regulation means there is not yet a strong business case for cleaning this waste up,' she told CNN. Another criticism leveled at Climeworks is its failure to offset its own climate pollution. The carbon produced by its corporate activities, such as office space and travel, outweighs the carbon removed by its plants. The company says its plants already remove more carbon than they produce and corporate emissions 'will become irrelevant as the size of our plants scales up.' Some, however, believe the challenges Climeworks face tell a broader story about direct air capture. This should be a 'wake-up call,' said Lili Fuhr, director of the fossil economy program at the Center for International Environmental Law. Climeworks' problems are not 'outliers,' she told CNN, 'but reflect persistent technical and economic hurdles faced by the direct air capture industry worldwide.' 'The climate crisis demands real action, not speculative tech that overpromises and underdelivers.' she added. Some of the Climeworks' problems are 'related to normal first-of-a-kind scaling challenges with emerging complex engineering projects,' Buck said. But the technology has a steep path to becoming cheaper and more efficient, especially with US slashing funding for climate policies, she added. 'This kind of policy instability and backtracking on contracts will be terrible for a range of technologies and innovations, not just direct air capture.' Direct air capture is definitely feasible but its hard, said MIT's Buck. Whether it succeeds will depend on a slew of factors including technological improvements and creating markets for carbon removals, he said. 'At this point in time, no one really knows how large a role direct air capture will play in the future.'
CNN
30-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
This company says its technology can help save the world. It's now cutting 20% of its staff as Trump slashes climate funding
Climate change Donald Trump Air quality PollutionFacebookTweetLink Follow Two huge plants in Iceland operate like giant vacuum cleaners, sucking in air and stripping out planet-heating carbon pollution. This much-hyped climate technology is called direct air capture, and the company behind these plants, Switzerland-based Climeworks, is perhaps its most high-profile proponent. But a year after opening a huge new facility, Climeworks is straining against strong headwinds. The company announced this month it would lay off around 20% of its workforce, blaming economic uncertainties and shifting climate policy priorities. 'We've always known this journey would be demanding. Today, we find ourselves navigating a challenging time,' Climeworks' CEOs Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher said in a statement. This is particularly true of its US ambitions. A new direct air capture plant planned for Louisiana, which received $50 million in funding from the Biden administration, hangs in the balance as President Donald Trump slashes climate funding. Climeworks also faces mounting criticism for operating at only a fraction of its maximum capacity, and for failing to remove more climate pollution than it emits. The company says these are teething pains inherent in setting up a new industry from scratch and that it has entered a new phase of global scale up. 'The overall trajectory will be positive as we continue to define the technology,' said a Climeworks spokesperson. For critics, however, these headwinds are evidence direct air capture is an expensive, shiny distraction from effective climate action. Climeworks, which launched in 2009, is among around 140 direct air capture companies globally, but is one of the most high-profile and best funded. In 2021, it opened its Orca plant in Iceland, followed in 2024 by a second called Mammoth. These facilities suck in air and extract carbon using chemicals in a process powered by clean, geothermal energy. The carbon can then be reused or injected deep underground where it will be naturally transformed into stone, locking it up permanently. Climeworks makes its money by selling credits to companies to offset their own climate pollution. The appeal of direct air capture is clear; to keep global warming from rising to even more catastrophic levels means drastically cutting back on planet-heating fossil fuels. But many scientists say the world will also need to remove some of the carbon pollution already in the atmosphere. This can be done naturally, for example through tree planting, or with technology like direct air capture. The advantage of direct air capture is that carbon is removed from the air immediately and 'can be measured directly and accurately,' said Howard Herzog, senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative. But there are big challenges, he told CNN. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been shooting upward, but still only makes up about 0.04%. Herzog compares removing carbon directly from the air to needing to find 10 red marbles in a jar of 25,000 marbles of which 24,990 are blue. This makes the process energy-intensive and expensive. The technology also takes time to scale. Climeworks hasn't come anywhere close to the full capacity of its plants. Orca can remove a maximum of 4,000 tons of carbon a year, but it has never captured more than 1,700 tons in a year since it opened in 2021. The company says single months have seen a capture rate much closer to the maximum. The company's Mammoth plant has a maximum capacity of 36,000 tons a year but since it opened last year it has removed a total of 805 tons, a figure which goes down to 121 tons when taking into account the carbon produced building and running the plants. 'It's true that both plants are not yet operating at the capacity we originally targeted,' said the Climeworks spokesperson. 'Like all transformative innovations, progress is iterative, and some steps may take longer than anticipated,' they said. The company's prospective third plant in Louisiana aims to remove 1 million tons of carbon a year by 2030, but it's uncertain whether construction will proceed under the Trump administration. A Department of Energy spokesperson said a department-wide review was underway 'to ensure all activities follow the law, comply with applicable court orders and align with the Trump administration's priorities.' The government has a mandate 'to unleash 'American Energy Dominance',' they added. Direct air capture's success will also depend on companies' willingness to buy carbon credits. Currently companies are pretty free to 'use the atmosphere as a waste dump,' said Holly Buck, assistant professor of environment and sustainability at the University at Buffalo. 'This lack of regulation means there is not yet a strong business case for cleaning this waste up,' she told CNN. Another criticism leveled at Climeworks is its failure to offset its own climate pollution. The carbon produced by its corporate activities, such as office space and travel, outweighs the carbon removed by its plants. The company says its plants already remove more carbon than they produce and corporate emissions 'will become irrelevant as the size of our plants scales up.' Some, however, believe the challenges Climeworks face tell a broader story about direct air capture. This should be a 'wake-up call,' said Lili Fuhr, director of the fossil economy program at the Center for International Environmental Law. Climeworks' problems are not 'outliers,' she told CNN, 'but reflect persistent technical and economic hurdles faced by the direct air capture industry worldwide.' 'The climate crisis demands real action, not speculative tech that overpromises and underdelivers.' she added. Some of the Climeworks' problems are 'related to normal first-of-a-kind scaling challenges with emerging complex engineering projects,' Buck said. But the technology has a steep path to becoming cheaper and more efficient, especially with US slashing funding for climate policies, she added. 'This kind of policy instability and backtracking on contracts will be terrible for a range of technologies and innovations, not just direct air capture.' Direct air capture is definitely feasible but its hard, said MIT's Buck. Whether it succeeds will depend on a slew of factors including technological improvements and creating markets for carbon removals, he said. 'At this point in time, no one really knows how large a role direct air capture will play in the future.'
CNN
30-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
This company says its technology can help save the world. It's now cutting 20% of its staff as Trump slashes climate funding
Climate change Donald Trump Air quality PollutionFacebookTweetLink Follow Two huge plants in Iceland operate like giant vacuum cleaners, sucking in air and stripping out planet-heating carbon pollution. This much-hyped climate technology is called direct air capture, and the company behind these plants, Switzerland-based Climeworks, is perhaps its most high-profile proponent. But a year after opening a huge new facility, Climeworks is straining against strong headwinds. The company announced this month it would lay off around 20% of its workforce, blaming economic uncertainties and shifting climate policy priorities. 'We've always known this journey would be demanding. Today, we find ourselves navigating a challenging time,' Climeworks' CEOs Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher said in a statement. This is particularly true of its US ambitions. A new direct air capture plant planned for Louisiana, which received $50 million in funding from the Biden administration, hangs in the balance as President Donald Trump slashes climate funding. Climeworks also faces mounting criticism for operating at only a fraction of its maximum capacity, and for failing to remove more climate pollution than it emits. The company says these are teething pains inherent in setting up a new industry from scratch and that it has entered a new phase of global scale up. 'The overall trajectory will be positive as we continue to define the technology,' said a Climeworks spokesperson. For critics, however, these headwinds are evidence direct air capture is an expensive, shiny distraction from effective climate action. Climeworks, which launched in 2009, is among around 140 direct air capture companies globally, but is one of the most high-profile and best funded. In 2021, it opened its Orca plant in Iceland, followed in 2024 by a second called Mammoth. These facilities suck in air and extract carbon using chemicals in a process powered by clean, geothermal energy. The carbon can then be reused or injected deep underground where it will be naturally transformed into stone, locking it up permanently. Climeworks makes its money by selling credits to companies to offset their own climate pollution. The appeal of direct air capture is clear; to keep global warming from rising to even more catastrophic levels means drastically cutting back on planet-heating fossil fuels. But many scientists say the world will also need to remove some of the carbon pollution already in the atmosphere. This can be done naturally, for example through tree planting, or with technology like direct air capture. The advantage of direct air capture is that carbon is removed from the air immediately and 'can be measured directly and accurately,' said Howard Herzog, senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative. But there are big challenges, he told CNN. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been shooting upward, but still only makes up about 0.04%. Herzog compares removing carbon directly from the air to needing to find 10 red marbles in a jar of 25,000 marbles of which 24,990 are blue. This makes the process energy-intensive and expensive. The technology also takes time to scale. Climeworks hasn't come anywhere close to the full capacity of its plants. Orca can remove a maximum of 4,000 tons of carbon a year, but it has never captured more than 1,700 tons in a year since it opened in 2021. The company says single months have seen a capture rate much closer to the maximum. The company's Mammoth plant has a maximum capacity of 36,000 tons a year but since it opened last year it has removed a total of 805 tons, a figure which goes down to 121 tons when taking into account the carbon produced building and running the plants. 'It's true that both plants are not yet operating at the capacity we originally targeted,' said the Climeworks spokesperson. 'Like all transformative innovations, progress is iterative, and some steps may take longer than anticipated,' they said. The company's prospective third plant in Louisiana aims to remove 1 million tons of carbon a year by 2030, but it's uncertain whether construction will proceed under the Trump administration. A Department of Energy spokesperson said a department-wide review was underway 'to ensure all activities follow the law, comply with applicable court orders and align with the Trump administration's priorities.' The government has a mandate 'to unleash 'American Energy Dominance',' they added. Direct air capture's success will also depend on companies' willingness to buy carbon credits. Currently companies are pretty free to 'use the atmosphere as a waste dump,' said Holly Buck, assistant professor of environment and sustainability at the University at Buffalo. 'This lack of regulation means there is not yet a strong business case for cleaning this waste up,' she told CNN. Another criticism leveled at Climeworks is its failure to offset its own climate pollution. The carbon produced by its corporate activities, such as office space and travel, outweighs the carbon removed by its plants. The company says its plants already remove more carbon than they produce and corporate emissions 'will become irrelevant as the size of our plants scales up.' Some, however, believe the challenges Climeworks face tell a broader story about direct air capture. This should be a 'wake-up call,' said Lili Fuhr, director of the fossil economy program at the Center for International Environmental Law. Climeworks' problems are not 'outliers,' she told CNN, 'but reflect persistent technical and economic hurdles faced by the direct air capture industry worldwide.' 'The climate crisis demands real action, not speculative tech that overpromises and underdelivers.' she added. Some of the Climeworks' problems are 'related to normal first-of-a-kind scaling challenges with emerging complex engineering projects,' Buck said. But the technology has a steep path to becoming cheaper and more efficient, especially with US slashing funding for climate policies, she added. 'This kind of policy instability and backtracking on contracts will be terrible for a range of technologies and innovations, not just direct air capture.' Direct air capture is definitely feasible but its hard, said MIT's Buck. Whether it succeeds will depend on a slew of factors including technological improvements and creating markets for carbon removals, he said. 'At this point in time, no one really knows how large a role direct air capture will play in the future.'
