The Swiss company Climeworks says it’s the first to develop a “commercial carbon dioxide capture plant” that can suck the greenhouse gas directly out of the air. This kind of solution, some experts say, is imperative given the dire pace of climate change.
“The United Nations says the [Paris climate treaty] targets are way off track and will not be met simply by reducing emissions, for example from factories or cars—particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the 2015 pact,” says Reuters. Companies are pursuing other ways to keep temperatures down, including the creation of “clouds that reflect sunlight back into space” and the kind of carbon capture solutions developed by Climeworks.
Still, the economics of these efforts can be daunting. The $23 million Climeworks project, based near Zurich, expects that initially its total capacity will be only 900 tons of carbon a year—equivalent to the annual emissions of just 45 Americans. The company uses giant fans and filters to pull the gas from the air; it then sells it, at a loss, to indoor farms, which use it to speed the growth of cucumbers and tomatoes, and to Audi, the car company, which hopes to use the carbon to develop greener fuels.
Some experts worry that so-called “bioengineering” is risky, and could potentially, for example, disrupt weather patterns and monsoon seasons. Others raise concerns that possible technological fixes distract from the crucial goal of reducing emissions. Proponents of bioengineering counter that we’ve already reached a point of no return and need to consider even the most radical solutions.
“We’re in trouble,” said Janos Pasztor, head of the new Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Project. “The question is not whether or not there will be an overshoot [of global climate targets] but by how many degrees and for how many decades.”