A Swiss start-up may have successfully removed carbon dioxide from open air 

With climate change being one of the most serious global concerns at the moment, nations and organisations are relentless trying to reduce or completely remove carbon footprints. And it looks like Climeworks AG, a Swiss start-up company has successfully accomplished so. 

In fact, they recently claimed that they have taken carbon dioxide from open air and stored it underground where it will eventually turn back into rock. Are you wondering what we are wondering? How on Earth did they make it happen? Well, sources cite that they have come up with a process called ‘direct air capture’ that uses vacuum-like devices to first pull in air, filter it and then finally bury the carbon underground. It has also been revealed that the process has been verified and certified by an independent and trustable third-party auditor called DNV.  

This is being deemed as a milestone as it is the first time ever that anyone has successfully derived CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently locked it underground, leading to successfully carbon depletion from the face of the Earth. No wonder the firm is taking credit for effectively doing what trees do, taking CO2 from the air and using it for better and non-toxic purposes.   

Now, about Climeworks AG, it was established in 2009 by Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, fresh engineering graduates from ETH Zurich, the most premium technical university in Switzerland. Since then, they have been testing several methods for direct and permanent carbon removal, but only succeeded recently.  

Some of the notable clients of Climeworks AG include Microsoft, Stripe and Spotify – all of which have purchased future carbon removal services from the company and kickstarted this sustainable process. Now, if you are thinking that the process must cost a fortune, it sure does. In fact, it can take as much as a few hundred dollars to suck out a tonne of CO2 from the air and push it underground.  

In order to offset their own emissions, the company also sells carbon credits to individuals and governments, apart from such tech giants. So far, Climeworks AG has raised more than 800 million from various investors, including venture capitalist John Doerr and insurance company Swiss Re.  

Despite being a Swiss company, Climeworks AG’s largest CO2 removal facility is currently located in Iceland. There, it collaborates with CarbFix that helps store the gas underground. How? By dissolving it in water and then mixing the mixture with basalt rocks. Estimates say, it takes about two years to convert the material to solid carbonates via natural processes.  

In 2022 alone, Climeworks AG removed almost 36000 metric tonnes of CO2. But that is still a tiny number in comparison to the average global carbon emissions of 36.3 billion metric tonnes.