Commercial flight giant Virgin Atlantic has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the carbon dioxide removal company Storegga that will see the British airline become its customer. In doing so, Virgin Atlantic will be purchasing permanent carbon capture from the air via the company’s UK Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant.
As a result, the carrier will receive the opportunity to effectively reduce its carbon footprint and will also help promote the use of direct air capture technology, which in this case is also combined with geological storage.
Storegga’s CEO, Nick Cooper, outlined the importance of using DAC technology to help reach climate goals. And he also emphasized the urgency of the matter.
Carbon Dioxide Removal Value
Storegga’s facility will be designed together with Carbon Engineering – one of the world’s leaders in developing and providing DAC technology. The new solution will be set up in North-East Scotland and its projected removal capacity is 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per annum.
Among other comments on the signed MoU, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Commercial Officer Juha Jarvinen also pointed out that reducing the airline’s carbon footprint is its top climate action priority. Furthermore, Jarvinen acknowledged the great potential that DAC technology has to help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Aside from helping to reach those targets, the value of DAC technology is further perpetuated by the fact that it can be used to remove historic emissions. Hence, its use has the potential of allowing companies to become carbon-negative.
The same technology is also highly scalable and is thought to be more efficient in meeting the demand for permanent carbon dioxide removal when compared to natural solutions, such as trees.
Storegga’s DAC facility, which is set to become the first of its kind in Europe, is expected to become operational in 2026.
