Climeworks co-CEOs Christoph Gebald & Jan Wurzbacher have released a statement announcing that the direct air capture (DAC) company is looking to reduce its team in light of an uncertain climate sector.
In a publication released this week, the duo explains the reasoning behind this decision, naming factors such as the dynamically changing macroeconomic landscape, fluctuating policy priorities that seem to drift away from carbon removal, and the pending status of the company’s DAC plant in the U.S.
The release states, “To ensure Climeworks remains resilient through today’s global challenges and able to lead toward a gigaton-scale future, we are planning to reduce the size of our team. As the best-funded scale-up in the industry, we are grateful for the trust of our investors, but we need to be mindful that our funding must be managed with diligence.”
This move comes against a backdrop of carbon removal ambiguity.
In March 2025, reports surfaced of the US Department of Energy considering funding cuts for Project Cypress and the South Texas DAC Hub—the two largest carbon removal initiatives in the United States.
At that time, sources who chose to stay anonymous also shared that these two projects are part of a list of initiatives introduced by the former US administration that are now being considered for elimination.
Carbon removal is also facing a broader issue of limited funding and investments, as the sector struggles to attract new buyers due to high prices and regulatory guidelines.
Even though major positive strides have been made by deep-pocketed carbon removal buyers like Microsoft and Google, this industry still faces a lack of new buyers who would provide the financial muscle needed for an impactful deployment towards climate-relevant results.
Relevant: DOE Considering Funding Cuts For The Two Largest DAC Projects In The US
In the case of DAC technology, developers like Climeworks are working on tackling high per-ton prices in an effort to make carbon removal more affordable.
To that end, Climeworks has developed an energy- and performance-enhanced Generation 3 DAC technology that will enable the company to reduce its costs by $250-$350 per ton captured and total costs of $400-$600 per ton net removal by 2030.
While currently faced with a turbulent carbon removal scene, Climeworks’ CEOs keep an optimistic outlook for the future:
“We are in to win this challenge. We will double down on what we stand for: highest quality carbon removal, taking our core technology to the next level to drive long-term value, ensuring we stay the undisputed tech leader and at the forefront of innovation.”
Read more: Climeworks Welcomes Helin Cox As New CTO
