Carbon removal specialist Climeworks is teaming up with project development venture Great Carbon Valley (GCV) to develop large-scale direct air capture (DAC) facilities in Kenya.
The joint venture will aim to establish multiple DAC and storage (DAC+S) projects across the country with the intention of removing as much as 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Exploring ideal locations for the future DAC+S facilities in Kenya will be among the very first steps of the partnership between Climeworks and GCV, followed by the exploration of low-carbon energy sources, as well as locations for safe and permanent mineralization storage of the captured CO2.
Kenya is uniquely positioned to potentially become the largest direct air capture hub on the continent, as became apparent during the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi earlier this month.
This is largely thanks to the nation’s geological characteristics that provide suitable conditions for mineralization storage, on one hand.
On the other, Kenya also has plentiful low-carbon energy sources, which is another key component necessary for the successful development of DAC facilities.
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DAC, as one of the currently available means of removing meaningful amounts of carbon dioxide from the air, will need to be scaled rapidly in the years to come, as has been recognized by the IPCC, if the world is to successfully limit rising global temperatures.
If all goes according to plan, both companies intend to launch the very first facilities together as early as 2028.
“Climeworks is excited to team up with Great Carbon Valley in Kenya. This collaboration marks a pivotal step on our journey to globally deploy carbon removal via DAC technology alongside partners who share our focus on high-quality, permanent carbon dioxide removal”, said Daniel Nathan, Chief Project Development Officer at Climeworks.
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