Carbon capture startup Climeworks removes CO2 from atmosphere in ‘industry first’

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A climate startup claims to have captured carbon dioxide from the open air and stored it underground in an industry first. Climeworks AG used direct-air capture technology to pull air from the atmosphere, filter it and bury it in an effort to mitigate human-induced climate change. Carbon capture technologies have been criticised for the vast amounts of energy and resources required to build them, though Climeworks claims its machines offer one of the only solutions for massive-scale carbon removal. “Carbon capture and storage is going to be the only effective way we have in the short term to prevent our steel industry, cement manufacture and many other processes from continuing to pour emissions into the atmosphere,” Professor Stuart Haszeldine from Edinburgh University said in 2021 in response to criticism from green groups claiming that such technologies were a costly distraction.