![]() On the front of each box, there are slats, kind of like large venetian blinds. The Orca plant consists of eight shipping container-sized boxes, which Climeworks calls collectors. “When you do direct air capture, you don’t need to go where the CO 2 is, because air is everywhere,” said Wurzbacher. It’s a solution that works across the globe. Compared to capturing CO 2 at the source, it’s more challenging and costly to pull CO 2 literally out of thin air, but a benefit of direct air capture is that it doesn’t require finding and stopping every single polluter. ![]() There are natural methods, like planting trees, and there are technologies that capture CO 2 directly from smokestacks and other emission sources. ![]() We might end up needing to remove 20 billion tons, because we can’t ramp down fast enough coal power plants and other stuff.”ĭirect air capture technology is one among many options for removing excess CO 2. “By mid-century, we need to remove 10 billion tons of CO 2, if everything else goes well. “It’s relatively simple climate math,” Wurzbacher explained on a video call from Zurich, Switzerland, where Climeworks is based. Without enough cuts, the need for carbon removal could be even higher. That number is a best-case scenario, assuming that aggressive cuts in emissions are achieved through other means. To meet that goal, the United Nations has estimated that 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide will need to be removed from the atmosphere annually by 2050. Carbon removal, by math and magicīy “Paris” targets, Wurzbacher was referring to the global goal of limiting emissions to two degrees Celsius (or ideally 1.5 degrees), established under the 2015 Paris Agreement. “The combination of direct air capture and storage is very likely what the world will need at a massive scale if we want to be compliant with Paris climate targets,” said Jan Wurzbacher, the CEO and co-founder of Climeworks. Vacuuming up carbon dioxide was once considered a last resort, but it’s looking like we’re headed toward a future where last resorts are a must-have. Though the plant has only been operational since September, its air-straining technology, known as direct air capture, has been a point of contention among environmentalists for much longer. They fit right into an already larger-than-life Icelandic landscape, where the wind blows fierce even on a rare day when sunlight gleams off the icy mountaintops. Orca’s carbon-capturing devices resemble giant transistor radios. But in Hellisheidi, Iceland, a geothermally active plateau just outside of Reykjavik, a new technology is taking a small but mighty step toward fixing it.Ī plant called Orca, built by Climeworks, is the first-ever facility where CO 2 is being filtered directly from the air and stored permanently underground. The Taskforce’s unique value proposition has been to bring all parts of the value chain to work intensively together and to provide recommended actions for the most pressing pain-points facing voluntary carbon markets.The air we breathe has a carbon problem. An advisory board of 20 environmental NGOs, investor alliances, academics and international organizations provide guidance on TSVCM recommendations. The TSVCM’s over 250 member institutions, represent buyers and sellers of carbon credits, standard setters, the financial sector, market infrastructure providers, civil society, international organizations and academics. McKinsey & Company provides knowledge and advisory support. Annette Nazareth, senior counsel at Davis Polk and former Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, serves as the Operating Lead for the Taskforce. ![]() The Taskforce was initiated by Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance is chaired by Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered and is sponsored by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) under the leadership of IIF President and CEO, Tim Adams. The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets is a private sector-led initiative working to scale an effective and efficient voluntary carbon market to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. ![]()
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