The flow of companies rushing to remove their carbon dioxide emissions is increasing. The latest IPCC report that warns of “code red” for humanity in terms of avoiding the climate crisis and the extreme weather events around the globe, are pushing concerned companies and individuals to do their part in eliminating their emissions.
It is also not just needed to remove the emissions the world keeps releasing daily, companies need to go way back, calculate and remove their historic emissions if the world stands any chance of curbing the climate change crisis.
Climework’s direct air capture solution offers just that – it helps take care of both historic and on-going emissions. Its technology is designed to remove the atmospheric concentration of CO2 by extracting it from ambient air and storing it permanently and safely underground.
A new strategic partnership between Climeworks and the insurance and reinsurance company Swiss Re is taking the industry to the next level. The two companies signed the world’s first and largest 10 year carbon removal purchase agreement with direct air capture and storage worth the striking $10 million.
The partnership includes developing risk management knowledge and risk transfer solutions, as well as exploring future investment and project finance opportunities. This agreement is unique so far in the voluntary carbon market for high-end carbon removal services. It is acting as a lever supporting the development of the direct air capture and storage industry.
“To mitigate the risks of climate change, the world needs to scale-up carbon removal on top of, not instead of emission reductions. By partnering with Climeworks we can play to our strengths in this endeavour, as a risk taker, investor, and forward-looking buyer of climate solutions,” said Christian Mumenthaler, Swiss Re’s Group CEO.
The commitment shown by Swiss Re is part of completing its target to achieve net zero operational emissions by 2030. This move sets the company apart from others with net zero pledges that do the talk but not the walk.
What Does The Deal Mean For Climeworks?
The direct air carbon capture and storage deal is a tremendous milestone for Climeworks as well. It will support the company’s efforts to keep developing its technology and bring it to large scale deployment as soon as possible.
Climeworks is at the forefront of launching its new commercial direct air capture and storage plant “Orca” in Iceland, bringing large-scale direct air capture technology to reality. The company already partners with Carbfix for its DAC pilot project at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant In Iceland as a part of the EU funded Carbfix2 project.
Carbfix’s technology mixes the captured CO2 with water and pumps it deep underground where it reacts with the basaltic rock formations and mineralizes the CO2, turning it into rock.
The partnership between Climeworks and Swiss Re is a substantial accomplishment for both companies, taking off the direct air carbon capture and storage industry.
It also goes beyond just completing the 10 year carbon removal purchase agreement but includes further joint activities being carried out together. It proves the demand for DAC services and shows the market for carbon removal offers great potential to grow significantly in the future.
