Air Canada announced this week it will be investing C$6.75 million (US$5.07 million) in direct air capture solutions developed by Carbon Engineering (CE).
The Canadian airline has joined the ranks of other aviation industry players, who are interested in reducing their carbon footprint.
Earlier this year, Airbus also invested in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) by striking a deal with Carbon Engineering for the purchase of 400,000 metric tons of CDR credits.
The investment loan from Air Canada is intended to boost CE’s development of its direct air capture (DAC) technology, while also offsetting the airline’s CO2 emissions.
To scale its technology, Carbon Engineering is working on constructing multiple DAC facilities that together will be capable of removing 1 million tons of CO2 per annum.
The project is of unprecedented scale so far and is a joint venture between CE and 1PointFive, which is a subsidiary of Occidental’s Low Carbon Ventures business.
Although the 70+ planned DAC plants are set to be located in different parts of the world, the first facility will be launched in Texas and is expected to become operational as early as 2024.
The CO2 that is captured from the atmosphere can then be reused in various industries, including as a raw material for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) – another crucial component of decarbonizing the aviation sector, which is gaining more and more traction.
In fact, airline companies around the world are already investing in SAF with multimillion dollar partnerships signed this year alone.
Prominent examples of such milestone deals include the contracts between CO2 utilization specialist Air Company and Boom Supersonic, Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue, and other airlines for the purchase of its proprietary AIRMADE™ SAF.
Read more: Air Company Launches First Sustainable Aviation Fuel Made From CO2
