Climeworks expects its North Star direct air capture project to reach gigaton carbon removal capacity by 2050; firm announces next projects in US to remove 'hundreds of thousands' of tons of CO2 in first phase, and then to a megaton milestone by 2030

While designing, building and operating a DAC plant the size of Orca has never been done before, the fundamental principles of production remain the same as in other industries. We have a great combination of seasoned industry professionals, and intelligent hard-working minds that have implemented best practices from operating manufacturing and industrial facilities. We have established key accountabilities across production, maintenance and engineering, with an operating rhythm that allows for fast, cross-functional problem solving and continuous improvement. We are monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) on a daily basis and our team understands how these KPIs need to be optimized to achieve maximum CDR output every day.

Global structured supply chains need to be developed

For direct air capture to scale, we need to develop a specialized, structured global supply chain. Shorter lead times and larger available quantities of parts and materials used to build DAC plants will contribute to growing the DAC industry faster and enable economies of scale, while avoiding failure of equipment that was not developed to serve the environmental conditions occurring at DAC plants. To this end, Climeworks has significantly diversified its supplier network in the past two years and will continue to do so.

Where we’re headed

To protect our planet and ensure a livable future for generations to come, the global temperature increase should be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This goal was agreed to by almost all governments as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Achieving it requires both unprecedented emission reductions and carbon removal to counterbalance residual emissions to reach net zero CO₂ emissions by mid-century. Climate science estimates that by 2100, 100-1,000 gigatons of CO₂ need to be actively removed from the atmosphere.

To meaningfully contribute to this, Climeworks’ North Star is reaching gigaton carbon removal capacity by 2050, and the experience we gained in the field has made us even more confident that we will achieve this. The steps we have taken so far are in line with our ambition of scaling by one order of magnitude every three to four years. Commissioned in 2017, Capricorn in Switzerland moved us to hundreds of tons of capacity, Orca to thousands in 2021, and Mammoth will move us to tens of thousands in 2024/2025. Our next projects in the U.S. will continue to move us to hundreds of thousands in a first phase, and then to a megaton by 2030 – the next big milestone before gigaton by 2050.